Pumping Blood Season 3
by mslaurenmichelle
Summary: Things have changed at San Antonio Memorial Hospital since Rachel and Finn lost their baby. Will the two of them find their way back to each other? Find out in the final season of the Pumping Blood series.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: The Times They Are A-Changin'**

 **Author's Note: Who's ready for another installment of Pumping Blood? This season starts off about two or three months after the events of the last season and I highly suggest reading the first two seasons if you haven't yet. As always, I don't own Glee, The Night Shift or any of the characters.**

Rachel laid in her bed, wide awake staring at the ceiling, trying to mentally prepare herself for the day. It was the first day she'd be back at the hospital in a few months and she wasn't looking forward to it.

She rolled onto her side and looked at the empty spot next to her and sighed. Well, she wasn't looking forward to one aspect of her first shift back.

Her alarm started going off and she reached over to turn it off. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. She hadn't been sleeping much lately and she could tell it was going to be rough night getting through her shift.

She grabbed her phone and scrolled through her contacts, stopping when she got to Finn's name. She hovered over his number, trying to decide if it was a good idea to call him or not. She heard a knock on her front door and heard someone come in and start yelling. She sighed and pushed herself out of bed, knowing that Santana had just arrived to come check on her.

It was definitely going to be a rough day.

"Bet it was my brother's," Brody said that night at the hospital, walking in the hall with Puck and Finn. "Puck, what are you even doing here tonight? I thought you had the night off," he said as they walked towards the nurses' station.

"I did. I volunteered so we didn't have to use another day shifter to cover for Kurt while he's in Afghanistan."

"You are so full of it," Finn said, pointing at him with a patient chart. "You only volunteered so you wouldn't have to spend an extra night with your mother."

"She's been visiting for almost a month. I'm going to take every shift I can to get a break."

"A month is never enough with your mother." He looked up from the chart and looked across the nurses' station, seeing Rachel and Santana come out of the break room together. He sighed and thought back to one of the last conversations they had.

" _I'm asking you, will you marry me?" he asked, pulling out the ring from his pocket as Rachel adjusted how she was sitting on the hospital bed._

" _I love you but I can't," she said as she started crying again. "I'm sorry."_

"Hey, uh, Finn?" Puck asked, following Finn's gaze. "Did I mention I have you and Rachel working together tonight?"

"No. No, because you said we were on alternate shifts."

"I'm sorry. The schedule – it couldn't be helped."

"You have to rip the Band-Aid off sometime," Brody said, patting Finn on the shoulder.

Puck picked up a patient's chart and looked at Finn. "Oh, this one's serious. I gotta—" he said, walking off and leaving Finn alone.

Across the globe, Kurt and Syd Jennings, the major in the squad he was serving with, were walking around their camp in Afghanistan, talking about their personal lives together. "So then, Blaine emails me this morning and says we now have a dog," Kurt said, showing Syd the picture.

"He's cute," she said, looking at Kurt's phone.

"I'm sure he's great but maybe you don't get a dog when I'm in Afghanistan."

"Well, life goes on back home, Kurt. Your being married doesn't stop that. But I'll check him out when I get back in nine days."

"Blaine or the dog?" Kurt asked with a smile on his face. "Nine days. Don't rub it in. I've still got 104."

"Please. I only have nine days left because I've been here for 171."

"What's the first thing you're going to do when you get back?"

"I'm gonna hug my daughter for about a week," Syd said with a smile on her face. "And then I'm going to take a bath for about a month because I'm a little ripe."

Back in San Antonio, Sam was showing around one of the new interns at the hospital. "So, Kitty, this isn't anyone's favorite thing to do but it's part of a first-year's job. Now, only an M.D. can legally declare someone dead, so the retirement center brings them by. You check for a pulse, then sign the death certificate. Any questions?" he asked as a small crowd started gathering outside.

"Nope, sounds pretty simple," she said, climbing into the back of the hearse.

Sam stepped over to where the night shift was standing and stood next to Rachel. "We're still doing this?" she asked with a slightly incredulous tone to her voice.

"They all have to go through it. So, Santana told me you and Finn haven't spoken for like two months. Is that going to be weird tonight?"

Rachel felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach that hadn't been there for a few years. "Santana tell you anything else you wanna share?" she asked him, giving him a slight death glare.

"Nope. I'm just going to shut up now," he said, turning his attention back to the hearse, where Kitty was pulling back the blanket on what she thought was a dead body.

Instead, Artie popped up and screamed, causing Kitty to scream and she punched him in the face, the side of his head hitting the window.

"She's a feisty one," Sam said. "Guess that's why you hired her."

"What the hell?" Kitty asked. "What are you doing?"

"How was that your first reaction?" Artie asked as they got out of the hearse.

"You jumped me, man."

"Wait, I didn't jump you. It's a practical joke!"

"I didn't know, I just reacted," Kitty said, pointing at him. "Don't pull a tiger's tail if you don't want to get bit!"

"Okay," Sam said, stepping in between the two of them so they wouldn't start fighting. "No harm, no foul. "Everyone, I'd like to welcome our very own Kitty Wilde to the night shift.

Rachel started cheering and looked out of the corner of her eye, seeing Finn and Puck run out of the hospital and towards the helicopter. The two made eye contact and she sighed slightly as he ran past her without saying anything.

"Rachel?" Nurse Mollie said, coming out to where everyone was standing. "Nasty two-car pile accident out on Route 16. Finn and Puck just went out in the chopper. The other patient is five minutes out."

"Okay," Rachel said. "Sam, Kitty, I need you to prep trauma two. Artie, page Brody for a trauma consult."

"Yep," Artie said, touching his hand to his face to see how badly he was bleeding.

Out at the scene of the accident, the chopper was landing in fairly severe weather with thunder and lightning. "Hell of a night for this, gentlemen," one of the EMTs said, opening the door to the chopper. "This dry lightning is a bitch."

"Try flying through it," Puck yelled over the sound of the wings.

"What do we got, Mike?" Finn asked.

"First one's on her way to your hospital. That's her car there. Witnesses said the truck was hauling ass. It flipped through the driver. We started moving it, then we saw her neck hanging by a thread. Literally."

"Where is she?" Finn asked, looking around.

"There," Mike said, pointing to the overpass.

"Where?" Puck asked.

"Right here." The three men walked over and looked over the edge, seeing the woman half dangling over the overpass.

"Son of a bitch," Puck muttered.

"Stand back. Everyone stand back," Mike said.

"Okay, this one's me, Finn," Puck said.

Back at the hospital, Rachel and Kitty ran to the front to grab one of the other victims from where she was getting off the ambulance. "What do we got?" Rachel asked.

"Female, 30s, trauma to her wrists and abdomen from MVA. Vitals unstable," the paramedic said.

"Okay. How low's her pressure?" Rachel asked, putting on her stethoscope.

"Not low, high. Systolic is 190."

"190?" Rachel asked. "Are you sure?"

The patient groaned in pain. "It really hurts."

"Her heart is racing. Let's get her inside," she said as they started moving her into the hospital.

"Kelly, I'm really scared," the patient said.

"It's gonna be okay, Luce."

"Run a trauma panel and type and cross for four," Rachel said.

"Ma'am, I promise your friend is in good hands with Dr. Berry," Kitty said.

"She's not my friend, she's my wife," Kelly said.

"Oh, sorry," Kitty said. "Let me take a look at this cut," she said, peeling back the bandages. "What happened out there?"

"We were headed out to dinner and some nut in a pickup truck just flew by us like 100 miles per hour and we swerved."

"Sam, I'm going to need a lac tray set up with a 4-0 prolene."

"Got it," Sam said. "Let's get you fixed up and I promise we'll let you know everything that's going on with her."

Back at the scene of the accident, Puck was climbing up the ladder to get to their victim. "Puck, be careful."

"You should let us get her down," Mike said. "It's not safe for you with all this dry lightning. And if you guys get hit, it'll be my ass."

"All right, we heard you," Finn said, calling down to him. "We got this." He turned his attention to the victim. "We're here to help you, ma'am. It's gonna be all right."

"I'm Dr. Puckerman," Puck said, getting to the top of the ladder. "That's Dr. Hudson above us. Just hold still, okay? I'm gonna check you out. Then we're going to get out of here." He looked up at Finn. "She's got a strong pulse. Whoa!" he said, moving her head slightly. "There's a big piece of glass at the end of her SCM."

"Be careful," Finn said. "If that glass shifts when we're moving her, it's going to slice her trachea in half."

"Copy that. Throw me some Kerlix and I'll stabilize the piece." Finn tossed him two pieces and Puck groaned, feeling his shoulder jam up. He turned his attention back to the lady and groaned. "Damn it, there's bubbles. Torn lung."

"We're going to have to intubate as soon as we get her down," Finn said.

"Let's get her on the backboard and get the hell out of here."

"Get that backboard ready," Finn yelled down to the firefighters and EMTs.

Over in Afghanistan, Kurt and one of his fellow soldiers were enjoying their down time by playing video games. "Oh, I'm playing dirty now. That's a kick to the nuts," Kurt said, pushing buttons on the controller. "Are you sure you've played this before because you are really—"

"Boom! Roundhouse! Thank you elbow."

"Blocked. You're going down."

Across the room, Syd was Skyping with her daughter on the community laptop. "I had a competition last week and I got second."

"You did?" Syd asked, a smile spreading across her face. "Did Daddy film it?"

"No," she said, sounding disappointed.

"Well, did you do the sparring?"

"Yeah."

"Congratulations, sweetheart. That's amazing," she said as explosions started happening outside.

"Pause, pause, pause, pause," Kurt said quickly as everyone started putting on their helmets. "Game on," he said once his was one but his competitor's wasn't.

"What was that?" Syd's daughter asked.

"It's nothing, sweetheart. It's just fireworks. We set them off all the night. So, show me your yellow belt." Her daughter held it up to the camera. "I'm so proud of you."

Kurt came up to Syd and bent down. "Major, we have casualties," he whispered.

Syd sighed and turned back to the computer screen. "I gotta go. 24."

"Seven," her daughter said, clicking a button on the computer.

"Marquez, let's go," Syd said, leading everyone out of the room.

They all ran out to the camp, watching as a missile flew into the camp Kurt and Syd bent down to protect themselves from the explosion and ran out as soon as it was safe.

"Shrapnel injury to the abdomen," Syd said when she got to one of the soldiers. "Come on, get him to the OR."

"Yes, Major," Kurt said. "Above-the-elbow amputation. Let's get a tourniquet on this and get him inside."

"Kurt, over here," Syd said, already on the move. "Check for shrapnel. I'll apply the tourniquet."

"My leg. How's it look?" one of the soldiers asked.

"It's gonna be alright. Just a little bit of blood," Kurt said.

"Yeah, a badass guy like you, it's just a bee sting," Syd said.

"Docs," Marquez said, coming over to where they were standing. "We got local nationals coming in, hit by our counterfire."

"You're kidding." Syd sighed. "Kurt, you finish this up. I'll take the L.N."

Back at the hospital, Brody walked into the trauma room where Rachel was working on Lucia. "Diffuse guarding. She needs the O.R.," Rachel said.

"That's why I'm here. Get her up."

"There's a hitch. Her BP's up to," Rachel said, looking at the monitor. "Well, now it's at 230 and her heart rate's at 140."

"History of high blood pressure?"

"None reported, but it keeps going up. Even on Nipride."

"What do you think's going on?" Brody asked, looking into Lucia's eyes.

"I don't know. I'm waiting for tox screens."

"Well, she'll never make it through surgery with pressure that high."

"Lab says they're short-handed and running slow," Jocelyn said, covering part of the phone with her hand. "No tox screen results yet."

"I just talked to the cops," Sam said, walking into the room. "Witnesses say she was driving erratic, swerving all over the road."

"Could be meth or coke," Brody said.

"She doesn't seem the type. At least, her partner doesn't."

Brody scoffed. "Come on, Sam. How long have you been working in the ER?"

"It could be stimulants for ADD or something," Rachel said. "Either one would cause the elevated BP, the heart rate, erratic driving. If the labs are running slow, let's talk to her wife and see what she knows."

"Artie just sutured up her arm. She's getting x-rays now. I'll bring her right down," Sam said.

In the locker rooms, Kitty opened a locker, only to see someone's stuff was already in there. "So, Kitty," Artie said. "If you close up a wound like I just did, you end up with a much smaller scar, if there even is a scar. Maybe you can try it next time."

"Really? Gee, thanks," she deadpanned. "Are there any available lockers?"

"Uh, Jesse's. Yeah, that one," Artie said, pointing. "He's actually interning in Dallas to be closer to his kids when his wife took them. Like, it's a whole thing."

"Really great story. You should write a book," Kitty said, putting her stuff in her locker.

"You have an attitude."

"Look who's talking. You know, I'm not some wide-eyed intern you're gonna impress. I might try to listen to you a little more if you didn't try to humiliate me with a practical joke on my first night."

"They did it to me on my first night."

"And I bet they did it even more afterwards, didn't they?"

"Yeah. No. How's that even relevant?"

"Well, I don't let anyone mess with me and after they saw I punched you, no one else will mess with me, either."

"You punched me because you were scared or to send a message?" Artie asked. Kitty gave him a deadpan look and started walking out of the locker room. "Okay, this is a hospital, not a prison. I'm a doctor, you should—" he said, getting cut off by the door slamming. "You should listen to me."

"3, 2, 1," Syd said in Afghanistan, lifting the backboard onto the makeshift hospital bed.

"We know what happened?" Kurt asked, coming up to the bedside.

"She was riding in a taxi that got caught in the crossfire. The driver was DOA and she wouldn't let the medics examine her." She started speaking Pashto to the woman on the gurney.

"I speak English," the girl said. "My name is Sharbat."

"Okay, good. Sharbat, that's a beautiful name. I'm here to help you. Is there anything hurting?"

"My stomach and my chest. It hurts when I breathe."

"Okay, we'll check you out," Syd said, writing something down on a clipboard before handing it off to someone. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen. Can I have my phone? I need to call my brother."

"We'll try to track that down for you," Kurt said.

"Please, I need to talk to him now."

"I understand, but I need to treat you first, okay?" Syd said. "I need to get this off so I can examine you," she said, starting to draw the curtain.

"But he cannot see me."

"Sharbat, I'll turn around, I promise," Kurt said, turning around. "I'm just here to help Dr. Jennings."

Syd started pulling back the sheet and sighed. "Sharbat, you're pregnant. Do you know how many months?"

"I think about eight."

"We're just going to take a look at the baby. Do you have a husband?"

"He was killed by the Taliban. That's why I was leaving my village. They will kill us all." They heard another explosion and the power started to flicker as Syd did an ultrasound on Sharbat. "You have to call my brother. He's the only one that can help me."

"Pause it right there," Syd said, stopping it at a spot. "Dr. Hummel, can you take a look at this?"

"Does he have to?"

"Please, Sharbat, I need his help to make sure you and the baby are safe."

"You're talking about…" Kurt trailed off, pointing to a spot on the screen. Syd nodded. "Sharbat, your baby is okay but you got a small tear in your uterus from the accident. We're going to get an American baby doctor here to come and see you, but it's going to take some time for them to get here."

"Please just help my baby."

"We will, but in the meanwhile, I need to take some pictures of your chest to make sure you're okay."

Back at the hospital, it wasn't going well for Lucia. "I don't understand," Kelly said. "If she needs surgery, why is she still in the ER?"

"We're having trouble getting her heart rate and pressure down," Rachel said.

"We just saw a doctor a couple of weeks ago. Her pressure was fine. Why is it so high now?"

"Well, we were hoping maybe you could tell us," Brody said.

"Is she taking any medication for ADD or narcolepsy?" Rachel asked.

"No."

"Any chance she was using drugs – meth or cocaine?" Brody asked. Kelly turned towards him, looking offended.

"No. God no. she's completely healthy. Lucia won't even take an aspirin. She's strictly vegan."

"Are you sure? Witnesses said she was driving erratically," Brody said.

"She's not on anything. I know my wife.

"We're not suggesting that you don't," Rachel said as Kitty walked into the room. "But any information you have could help save her. Kitty, can you pull the ultrasound?" Rachel asked, turning around to see that she was already doing it.

Artie walked in as Brody started to put the gel on Lucia's stomach. "What are you doing?" Kelly asked.

"Now we need to monitor the bleeding in her kidney," Rachel said. She took the ultrasound wand and started moving it around on the gel as the image appeared on the screen.

"Artie, thoughts?" Brody asked.

"Bleeding is stable, that's good. Any sicknesses lately?" Artie asked.

"No, not really. She's complained of headaches and hot flashes and dizziness. But the doctor just said welcome to menopause."

"Was the doctor a man?" Kitty asked.

"Yeah, he is," Kelly replied as the heart monitors started beeping.

"She's in V-fib. Kitty, paddles," Rachel said.

"Oh my god. What's happening? You have to do something. What's going on?"

They charged the paddles and put them on her chest. "Clear," Rachel said as everyone stepped back. "Still V-fib. Charge. Clear," she said, shocking her again.

Across town, Finn and Puck were flying back to the hospital in less than perfect conditions. "Sounds good. You're in on the left," Puck said, listening to her heart and lungs. He groaned again, feeling slight pain in his shoulder.

"You okay?" Finn asked.

"Yeah, I just tweaked my shoulder a little bit."

"I gotta say, it's good to have you back out here with me, buddy," Finn said.

"It feels good to be back. I get so bored, being charge doc, you know? I spend half the night sitting behind that desk. Why can't I go out sometimes?"

"You know you can go out whenever you want," Finn said. "You're the boss."

"Damn right. I want to get back to who I used to be, instead of this house cat I turned into. Besides, who knows when I can send you and Rachel out together again, right?"

"Yeah, probably best to wait on that. Things are still a little raw." Finn heard something start beeping and looked over at the monitor. "Crap, Puck. Her pressure's dropping."

"She's bleeding out."

"Puck, we've got to pull the glass."

"That's all? Surgery in a flying earthquake."

"If you pull the glass, I'll find the bleeder and clamp it off."

"Let's use the NOD this time," Puck said. "It's hard enough to intubate. We'll never see the bleeder without it," Puck said, putting the night vision goggles onto Finn's head.

"Clamp?" Finn asked, holding out his hand. "Pull it out nice and slow, buddy."

"That's the plan." He pulled it out and held it up. "God, look at this thing. It's like an iceberg. Lucky it didn't take her head off."

"I see the bleeder," Finn said as he started working. Thunder crashed outside and Finn pulled away. "Jesus. Son of a bitch. I got whited out by lightning."

"So you're blind now too?"

"No, I got this. I'm close," he said as he started working. Got it," Finn said, clamping it off. "Bleeding stopped."

"Pressure's going back up," Puck said. "Nice job."

Back at the hospital, Kitty was doing chest compressions on Lucia. "Hold compressions," Rachel said, looking up at the monitor. "I have a pulse."

"We're in sinus. BP and heart rate are coming down. What do you think caused the V-fib?" Kitty asked.

Rachel thought to herself for a second. "It was the F.A.S.T. scan."

"Right," Brody said.

"What do you mean?"

"When Dr. Berry ran the ultrasound probe over the kidney, the heart rate and BP shot up."

"Like this," Rachel said, demonstrating. "Now look here, above the kidney. What do you see?"

"A pheochromocytoma. A tumor of the adrenal gland," Artie said.

"Artie, I was Kitty. I know you know," Rachel said.

"And I knew that," Kitty said as Artie scoffed. "What the hell is your problem?"

"What the hell is your problem?" Artie asked.

"Do you have to be the big man."

"I've been trying to be nice all day."

"Is it because I'm a girl?"

"Hey, hey," Brody said, cutting them off as Rachel pressed her lips together to stop laughing. "The patient. It must have gotten crushed in the accident and released adrenaline into her bloodstream."

"And every time we pushed on it, it had the same effect," Rachel said.

"So it needs to come out," Artie said. "I'll let the OR know we're coming."

"Not so fast," Rachel said.

"Operating on it can release a fatal dose of hormones into her system."

"So, Kitty," Rachel said, turning to the new intern. "What do we do?"

"Put her on alpha and beta blockers for the next few days until it's safe to go into surgery."

"Exactly. And hope she doesn't start bleeding again," Brody said.

In Afghanistan, Marquez came running into the hospital room. "Major! Captain! New development," he said, getting to Sharbat's bed. "Her husband is here for her."

"Her husband?" Kurt asked, turning towards her. "I thought he was dead."

"Sharbat, what is going on?" Syd asked.

"He's got to be somebody important because he walks right through security."

"Where is she?" a powerful voice said, entering the hospital. "What are you doing to my wife?"

"You can't just walk in here," Kurt said.

"Get away from her."

"We are saving her life."

"Kurt!" Syd yelled. "I've got it from here. Leave now. That is an order."

"Listen to her," the man said.

Kurt handed the ultrasound probe to one of the nurses as he walked away, never dropping eye contact with Sharbat's husband.

"He should have never been here," Sharbat's husband said.

"I'm sorry, sir. There was an emergency," Syd said, going back to work on Sharbat. "Your wife was in an accident. There's been some bleeding around the heart that I'm draining now. There also seems to have been an issue with the baby."

"Then she needs a midwife. I'm taking her."

Syd sighed. "She can't go now. She's been sedated and she's too sick for a midwife. Her uterus has a small tear. So far, the baby is okay but we have called in a specialist."

"I make decisions for my wife. Not you."

"She needs medical attention," Syd said.

"You are guests in our country. She's my property and I'm taking her."

"This may be your country but right now, she is my patient. You've got a problem, you file a complaint. Until then, get out of my ER!"

"You will pay for this."

Sharbat waited until her husband was gone before rolling over to face Syd. "You see? Please don't let him take me.

Back at the hospital, it wasn't slowing down for them either.

"Forty-two-year-old female with deep lacerations to her neck causing a tracheal-broncho injury. I had to clamp off her pulmonary vein," Finn said, handing over the patient to Brody.

"ET tube's in the left main bronchus. Stats and BP are stable," Puck said.

"Not bad for being in the field. We got it from here," Brody said, taking the patient up to surgery.

Puck groaned and rolled his shoulder from where he'd hurt it in the field. "You need something for that shoulder, old man?" Finn asked with a smile on his face.

"No, it's just sore," he said, dropping the bag with emergency supplies. "What's this?" he asked, pulling out his phone that started ringing.

"Ten bucks says it's Quinn calling to complain about your mother," Finn said, giving Sam a fist bump.

"Well, you owe me ten because it's my mother, calling to complain about Quinn." He accepted the call and put it up to his ear. "Hi mom."

Finn started walking away, laughing to himself. He turned around and almost ran right into Rachel, who was standing in the hallway of the hospital. "Hey."

"Hey," Rachel said, looking down at her feet.

"You wanna…" Finn asked, nodding towards the break room, hoping they'd be able to talk.

"So I heard there's a bit of a situation out there," Rachel said as Finn opened the door, revealing two of the nurses talking to each other. "I know you're not the biggest fan of lightning," Rachel said as Finn shut the door.

"Yeah, well, you don't have a choice, right? Brody has her now. So how's the other patient? The driver."

"She went into v-fib arrest. Pretty sure she has a bleeding pheo."

"That's not good." Finn and Rachel looked around the hospital, noticing everyone was watching them. "So listen I—"

"Let's talk outside," Rachel said, brushing past him.

"Look, I don't want it to be awkward for us working together for you."

"I don't want it to be awkward for you either but I don't see how it's not going to be." The two of them got outside and saw two ambulances in the ambulance bay, meaning they weren't going to get to talk there either. "I mean, we'll figure it out, right?"

"Yeah," he said, the two of them walking to an empty trauma room to talk.

"Honestly, the best thing we're going to do is face it and eventually we'll get over it. Right?"

"That sounds like you're not thinking about going back to the day shift."

"Why would I?" Rachel asked, turning around to face him. "Why? I love the night shift. Do _you_ want to transfer to the day shift?"

"It might be easier for you. You said you were considering it anyway."

"No. No I didn't," Rachel said, cutting him off. "You suggested it when we broke up but I never said I was going to."

"Yes you did—"

"No I didn't!" She was cut off by a gurney being wheeled into the trauma room and the two of them moved their conversation out into the hallway. "You get an idea in your head of what you want to happen and then you just expect it to happen."

"I'm not the only one who does that."

"Meaning?" Rachel asked.

"Like when I asked you if I could go to Afghanistan. And you said sure. And then I went and came back and you were pissed at me."

"I never said go."

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't. I said I wouldn't stop you because you would have resented me if I did."

"That's the same thing."

"No. It's not," Rachel said, a hard look forming on her face. "Did I want you to go? No. What pregnant woman wants to send the father of their child into a war zone?"

"Then why not just say that?"

"You would have gone anyway," Rachel said, her eyes narrowing.

"Excuse me, doctors," Mollie said, breaking up their argument. "Rachel, there's CBCs back and the lab says to call them ASAP."

Rachel glared at Finn and brushed past him. "Excuse me."

Mollie leaned in towards Finn and dropped her voice. "Give it some time, honey. She just needs time."

"Thanks," Finn said harshly.

In the OR, Brody and Artie started doing the operation on the woman from the scene of the accident. "Gotta say, for a woman who was ejected out of her truck onto a freeway sign, she's doing pretty well," Artie said.

"She's very lucky she had such a great surgeon," Brody said.

"Yeah, you were awesome."

"I was talking about you. Really nice assist here. Like I said, you've got the gift." Brody paused. "All done with the sutures?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Let's go take a look at the film and make sure there weren't any issues with her other lung before we close her up." The two of them took off their surgical gloves and masks and threw them in the trash. "So, what's going on with you and this new intern, Kitty?"

"She's very annoying and she thinks she knows way more than she actually does."

"So did you, if I remember correctly. But from her work at the reservation clinic, she's coming in with way more experience that most first years. But the bigger issue is, if she's going to rattle you like that, what's going to happen to you when things go south in here?"

"Well that's totally different," Artie said.

"How?"

"I'm in control here. I'm in control in the big stuff like my hand. I almost lost everything but I took it like a man. I did the rehab and I'm here."

"That's true. You did.

"But the social stuff, I've never…been the best at. You know, I've always been the smartest guy in the room. I mean, not to say I'm the smartest guy in this room—"

"Artie, I need you to have the same confidence out there when you're dealing with your bosses and your ex-colleagues and everyone else that you have in here with your surgeries. A night shift at a busy trauma center like this is the wild west and we are the calm in the eye of the storm. You know, we make it all okay for everyone. You get it?" Brody asked as Artie nodded.

Rachel came up and knocked on the OR window. "Brody, I need you."

"Okay, Artie, finish the repair and close up."

Artie nodded and put a mask back on. "6-0 prolene on a needle driver, please."

Outside the OR, Brody and Rachel were wheeling Lucia to another OR. "The repeat blood test shows that her blood count is dropping which means that her tumor is probably bleeding again," Brody said.

"So can't you just fix it?" Kelly asked.

"It's not that simple."

"Normally we can premedicate someone for a couple of weeks with adrenaline blocking medication before operating, but with her bleeding again, we have to go in," Rachel said.

"But you should know there are serious risks taking it out now. But the risks are far more serious if we don't."

"Are you telling me she could die?"

"I'm telling you it's complicated," Brody said, wheeling Lucia into the OR.

"Then uncomplicated it for me," Kelly called after him as Rachel hung behind.

"I wish we could, but we can't. Now, it's risky, but this is her best chance."

"We weren't even supposed to go out tonight but I pushed her because I wanted to," Kelly said. "Maybe if we had just stayed home, this wouldn't have happened."

"Kelly, this is not your fault. Sometimes bad things happen to good people."

"It is my fault. We've been fighting so much lately and in the car I got so mad I asked her for a separation. And she was so upset."

"Okay, why don't we get some coffee?" Rachel asked, trying to settle her down.

In Afghanistan, Kurt and Syd were debating what to do about Sharbat. "If we move her, she doesn't make it. Neither does the baby."

"I'm just telling you what our orders are. I didn't say I agreed with them."

"So we're just going to listen to this bastard who calls this little girl his property? Back in the States, he's in jail for statutory rape."

"Yeah, and you don't think it pisses me off? I've got a daughter two years younger than her." Syd stood up and Kurt did the same as the two of them started walking. "This country is like stepping into the Bible. But as much as we don't like it, we are required by our superiors to follow their rules. This is what victory looks like, Kurt. Get used to it. You're not back in your chummy ER."

"Yeah, back there we'd figure out a way to help her."

Syd sighed as they got to Sharbat's bedside. "Sharbat, how are you feeling?"

"The baby?" she asked.

"He's fine."

"He? It's a boy?"

"Yes. Sharbat, I need you to talk to me about your husband."

"I'm sorry I lied. I just…I didn't want you to contact him. I didn't want him to find me."

"He wants to take you back to the village," Kurt said. "We can delay it but I don't know what else there is we can do."

"You don't know how cruel he is. You don't know how cruel his family is to me. I was sold to him at 13 by my parents."

"I hate this country," Kurt spat.

"He doesn't care about me. He only wants his baby boy. My brother is trying to help me. He made enough money to go to Australia. You have to find him."

"We are trying but it's tricky for us because your husband is right about one thing. We have to follow Afghan laws," Syd said, trying to keep her voice neutral.

"Then I am dead," Sharbat said, laying back against the pillow.

Back at the hospital, Finn, Puck and Kitty were going to the front to get someone from an ambulance. "She said Annie called it in," Puck said.

"Who's Annie?" Kitty asked.

"She's bringing in an OD," Finn said, putting gloves on.

"How's she doing? How'd she sound?"

"She sounded upset," Finn said.

"Who's Annie?" Kitty asked again.

"Finn's sister-in-law," Sam said, meeting them outside. "She disappeared last year and cleaned him out. She turned up a month ago out of the blue."

"Twenty-nine year old man, OD'ed. Pinpoint pupils. BP is 90 over 60," the paramedic said.

"Any idea what he's on?" Puck asked.

"Oxycotin," Annie said, getting out of the ambulance.

"Okay, Kitty, you're with me," Puck said. "Let's put him in curtain two."

"You okay?" Finn asked, helping her out of the ambulance.

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Annie said, walking into the hospital.

"Okay," Puck said, getting the patient set up in the exam room. "Hypotension with respiratory depression. What do we do?"

"High flow oxygen, IV fluids, Narcan," Kitty said.

"Looks like somebody paid attention in class. Go ahead and do it."

"Two milligram dose," Jocelyn said, handing Kitty the needle.

"Actually, in chronic narcotic users, you should start with a 0.4 milligram does to decrease the risk of flash pulmonary edema," Kitty said, squirting out some of the Narcan.

"Did you just pay attention in class or did you teach it?"

"I've done this a few times before."

"Right, at the clinic."

"Yeah. Plus I had it done to me when I OD'ed," Kitty said, causing Puck to chuckle. "No, I had a pretty bad Vicodin habit in high school. Don't worry, I'm all better now," Kitty said, putting the now-used needle in the can Jocelyn extended towards her.

"Good," Puck said as the patient started to wake up. "Hey. Hello, sir. Welcome back to the world."

The patient growled. "Oh, you son of a bitch," he said, taking off the oxygen mask. "You ruined my high!"

"Actually, we saved your life."

"You ruined my high!" he said, adjusting how he was sitting on the bed. "I'll show you. This is for you, doctor," he said, pulling up his gown in the back. He grunted and started pooping on the bed.

"Clean up on aisle three!"

"For the record, I never did anything like that," Kitty said as Puck walked out of the exam room.

"Is that better, buddy?" Jocelyn asked.

Rachel led Kelly to one of the waiting rooms and sat her down to talk. "The accident is not why she's in surgery," Rachel said. "It's the adrenal tumor. It's a – it's like a time bomb inside of her and it could have happened anytime, anywhere. So that has nothing to do with you."

"I just got so tired of the arguing," Kelly said.

"Okay, I know that you and I don't know each other, but do you mind if I ask…has the fighting been just these last few months, where she's been irritable and had angry outbursts?"

"That's it. She's just been so angry at me."

"Those are all symptoms of adrenaline leaking from the tumor. I'm not saying that it's the cause of your problems."

"But it explains a lot," Kelly said, a look of relief washing across her face. "We've been through so much these past few months. Sometimes it's hard to get past all that pain. You know?"

Rachel felt her heart get heavy and she took a deep breath to try and not start crying.

" _The baby?" she asked when she first woke up from the coma. She saw the broken look on Finn's face and started crying._

"Yeah. I've been there. Hell, I think I'm still there. But, you know, you gotta try, because even if it doesn't work out, at least you know you did your best."

"I just…I hope we can get back to where we used to be."

"I hope you can too."

In one of the break rooms, Finn was walking towards Annie with a coffee cup in his hand. "I just don't like you working in a halfway house with addicts," he said, sitting down at the table she was sitting at. "There's lots of temptations and I don't think it's good for you."

"I know you don't. But I told you when I agreed to stay with you that I needed this. I need to see wasted lives and how close I came to being one of them."

"Fine, I'll back off. I've had enough fights with women tonight. Just do what you want," Finn said, taking a sip from his coffee cup.

"Rachel?"

"Yeah. First night back working together. It took about three minutes to get into it."

"Well, you're both hurt. When you're hurt, you lash out. It's easier than feeling pain."

"Well, you could just move on."

"Don't be such a guy, Finn. She lost a child. She lost you. You guys have been together on and off since you for…what? Since you were like 25? Give it some time."

"She went and worked on a reservation for two months. I thought she'd be fine when she got back."

"Fine?" Annie asked incredulously. "She's not sick, Finn."

"So what? You're defending Rachel now?"

"She's figuring her life out. Look, Finn, I love you. You're my family. But sorry, dude. I get it. I see her side of things. You push the edge. You take chances. It's why you can save lives when other people can't. You have a gift and that's an exciting guy to meet and to date."

"But not to marry?"

"But not to marry," Annie repeated.

"That's not new, okay? She knew exactly who I was from the start. And then, all of a sudden, it's 'you can't get a Harley. You can't join SWAT-team training. You can't go to Afghanistan.'"

"No one wants the father of their child going to Afghanistan. You weren't sent over there, Finn. You choose to go."

"To look after my best friend," Finn said defensively.

"And she probably thought she was your best friend. Look, you don't want to change and you shouldn't have to change, but don't blame her because she changed."

"That's very interesting advice coming from the woman who married my crazy ass brother."

"Yeah. And I was a widow at 28."

Across the hospital, Santana and Sam were getting out of the elevator and Santana was looking at something on her phone. "And this one just came in?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Well, I got the rejection letter from Loyola earlier. Now this one from Seton Hall. That's five law school rejections. Game over," Santana said.

"First of all, it's only four, okay? You got waitlisted at Georgetown."

"Which is a nicer way of saying they rejected me."

"You applied late, okay?" Sam said. "You retake the LSAT. You have time to take one of those test-tutoring courses. Then you'll knock it out of the park. All those law schools will be begging to get you."

"I don't know. Maybe it wasn't meant to be," Santana said, getting dejected.

"Don't go quitting on your dreams now," Sam said. "How many times have you told me about how tired you are of being on this side of those 911 calls? That you wish you could help those women before it's too late."

"About a million gazillion times."

"So it'll take a little longer to be a lawyer than you thought. Buck up."

"You're the best. You know that?" Santana asked, kissing him.

The two of them walked by the nurses' station and smiled at Finn and Puck. "So, um, is Annie okay?" Puck asked.

"Yeah. Thought she'd be more shook up but she's hanging in there. What's the update on the woman we brought in?"

"I heard it went well. Artie's closing up now."

"That's great," Finn said, going back to paperwork.

But in the OR, things were much less than great. "Pressure's dropping," one of the nurses said.

"Yeah, I know," Artie snapped. "More lap pads. I need more lap pads. I took out the packaging to close up, I must have dislodged a clot from the subclavian artery. Clamp," he said.

"Heart rate climbing."

"I know," Artie said as he kept working. "There's too much blood. I can't see."

"You need help."

"I've got this," Artie said.

"I'm paging Dr. Hudson," the nurse said.

A few minutes later, Finn came in after scrubbing in. "What's going on, Artie? Why'd you page me?"

"I've got it. They shouldn't have called you."

"Let me in there. I'll show you," Finn said, standing next to Artie.

"I've got this, Finn."

"Artie…"

"I've said I got this, Finn! I'm the surgeon." He saw the shocked expression on Finn's face and sighed. "I'm sorry. I just – I got this, alright? Vessel loops on the hemostat, Finn, hold the pressure on that side, please."

"Okay. You got it," Finn said, walking around to the other side.

"Hemostat," Artie said. "Hold pressure," he said, looking up at Finn.

"Good job," Finn said, watching him work. "I guess you didn't need me."

"That's what I told them. Let's repair that artery. 7-0 Vicryl to me and Dr. Hudson, please."

"Happy to assist, doctor."

In another OR, Brody was doing surgery as Rachel watched. "And cut," he said. He pulled the tumor out and put in the bowl. "Get that off to pathology."

"Right away, doctor," one of the nurses said.

"Look at that. I could have gone into bomb retrieval."

"Well, there's always time to change careers," Rachel said with a slight laugh.

The monitor started beeping and the three of them looked at it with wide eyes. "BP's back up. It's 170 systolic."

"What the hell," Brody said, looking to see if he missed something.

"Did you tie off all the vessels?" Rachel asked.

"Yes. Yes I did."

"Heart rate's 160," the nurse said.

"She's coding," Brody said as Rachel brought over the paddles. "Get this draping off," he said as he grabbed the paddles. "Charge me up."

Outside of the other OR, Puck ran up to Finn as he left the room. "Everything alright? I heard she was in trouble."

"False alarm. Artie had it all under control. The guy is a rock in the OR. You talk to any of the people yet?"

"No, I left a message, haven't heard back. State police is tracking down the truck registration and see if they can locate any of the family."

"When you do, let me know. It would be nice to give some good news."

Back in the other OR, Brody was still confused as to what was happening. "It doesn't make any sense," he said, looking again to see if he missed something. "I got the whole thing out."

"Brody, what if you didn't get it all out?" Rachel asked.

"I did. I got it all. Look," he said, looking up at the screen. "There's nothing. Nothing's there."

"Okay, but what if there's a second one? 10 percent of all pheos have a secondary tumor outside of the adrenal gland."

"That would explain a lot of this, but where is it?"

Rachel heard the monitors start to beep again and she turned to look at them. "Brody, her blood pressure is still rising."

"Come on, show yourself, you bastard. Release the retractor," he said. "There it is. Just distal to the aortic bifurcation. Clamp," he said, holding out his hand. He clamped it down and twisted and the beeping slowed down.

"There you go. BP's down to 180 over 100," Rachel said.

"Nice save. Very nice. Alright, let's get that sucker out of there." He turned back to Lucia and froze. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa."

"What?" Rachel asked, not liking the sound of that.

Over in Afghanistan, Syd was talking to someone on the phone. "Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I understand, sir. No, sir. Yes, sir. I will. Thank you, sir," she said, hanging up the phone.

"That didn't sound good," Kurt said from where he was working on Sharbat.

"Yeah, it's not. Sharbat's husband is a little more connected than we thought."

"So what does that mean?" Sharbat asked, starting to get anxious.

"It means we're just trying to figure things out," Syd said, trying to comfort her. Leaning in towards Kurt, she whispered "Her father-in-law is on the Provincial Council. He's threatening to close roads, deny access to villages, end the supply chain. He can make life miserable for the base."

"Why are you whispering? What is going on?"

"We're just talking about some medical stuff, Sharbat," Kurt said before turning back to Syd. "Did you tell the general what's at stake?"

"Yeah, I told him. I was the one getting my ass reamed, okay? And here's the big surprise: he doesn't care. He's big picture, solve the problem, keep the place running. The general was very clear about that."

"Are you sending me back with him?" Sharbat asked.

"You're going to have to keep calm for the baby, okay?" Kurt said. "We're going to try and figure this out."

"Don't you promise her anything."

"I'm not. We are trying to figure it out."

"I can't go," Sharbat said as she started crying. "I can't go. I'd rather die than go back there."

"Distant heart sounds," Kurt said as the heart rate monitor started beeping. "Got JVD. She's in cardiac tamponade."

"Looks like the drainage was a temporary fix. She needs a pericardical window. Let's get her to the OR."

Back at the hospital, Rachel and Brody were talking to Kelly about what happened during the surgery. "I thought you got it."

"Dr. Weston removed all of the tumors from Lucia's adrenal gland, but the cancer has spread through her lymph nodes," Rachel said.

"And I'm afraid it's stage IV," Brody said.

"S-so what's the treatment?"

"I'm sorry, Kelly, but there is no treatment at this point. It's a matter of weeks or maybe a couple of months. Right now we need to focus on Lucia's comfort and pain management."

"I just learned that her anger wasn't her fault and I was going to get my Lucia back. And now you're telling me that I'm going to lose her…forever?"

"We're very sorry. There was no way of knowing until we got in there."

"Our last words were a fight."

"Yeah, your last words before the accident," Rachel said. "But now you have a chance to tell her what she really means to you." Rachel started leading her back towards Lucia's recovery room. She smiled at Kitty and Sam as they passed in the hallway.

"Northwestern med school – that's pretty impressive," Sam said. "What made you choose them?"

"I look good in purple. And after I graduated, I met Rachel on the reservation. Not a lot to do around there, so we buddied up pretty quick. She offered me a job and Chicago winter sucks so I ditched that internship and here I am."

"Well, we're glad you did. Anybody that can through a punch like that is going to fight right in on the night shift." They got to the nurses' station and Sam opened his laptop, revealing pictures of him with various workout equipment.

"Somebody's in shape," Kitty said, looking at the screen. "Nice balls, man. Kinda creepy for a desktop."

Sam shut the top of the laptop and gave Kitty a look. "Those are pictures for my brochure. I'm opening up a cross-fit gym. I'm just trying to decide which one I want to use."

"Uh huh," Kitty said as she walked away. "Go with the big balls," she called out as Puck walked up to the nurses' station.

"What's the matter, Puck?" Sam asked, noticing him rubbing his shoulder.

"Yeah, I just pulled a muscle out in the field. Just had a scan, nothing's torn."

"Want me to rub it down for you?"

"Just stay where you are."

"Excuse me," someone said, coming up to the desk. "I'm looking for my son. Francis Watkins? He was brought it with a fever."

Puck and Sam turned to look at the board to see if he was on there anywhere. "I don't see any pediatric fevers on the board," Puck said. "Do you know of any, Sam?"

"No," Sam said, looking through papers to see if he missed something. "Are you sure it was this hospital?"

"Yes. My wife left me a voicemail while I was at work. It's loud machinery so I just got it. She said she was bringing our four-year-old son in. He had a high fever. San Antonio Memorial Hospital. I know what I heard. She was calling from the truck while she was on the way."

"A truck?" Puck asked, his eyes going wide. "Does she drive a green pickup?"

"That's it. An F-150. Why?"

"You sure your son with was with her?"

"Yes, she was bringing him in. That's my point."

"Sam, get the chopper ready to go. Call police, fire department and EMS. Get Finn and Rachel on that chopper. We need everybody out there right now."

"Wait, what's going on?"

"Sir, you might want to sit down for this," Puck said.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your wife was in an accident," Puck said, leading him over so they could sit down and talk. "Your son might still be at the crash site."

Finn and Rachel ran towards the chopper and got in, trying to sit as far away from each other as possible. At one point, his knee accidentally bumped hers and she jumped away. "Sorry," he muttered.

"It's fine," she muttered back, looking out the window the entire flight to the scene of the accident.

Once they landing, they immediately sprang into action. "He's already been out here for almost two hours," one of the paramedics said.

"I can't believe I missed a kid," Finn said.

"Everybody did," Rachel said as they started running. "You were here for the mother. It's not your job to search the field looking for other cases. Everybody, spread out!" she yelled.

"Check over there," Finn said.

"I already did," someone said.

"Well, check again. Frankie!" he called as other people started calling out the kid's name. "Get the chopper to shine its light over there," he said, pointing in a direction.

In Afghanistan, they started prepping Sharbat for surgery. "IV's in, Major. We'll get her under in no time."

"It's going to be okay, Sharbat," Syd said. "We're going to take care of you and your baby."

"Please find my brother," she said as she started to fall asleep.

Kurt came in as they took her to the OR. "Just got some intel on the brother. Looks like he's in the poppy trade."

"Well, that's probably the only way they could afford to pay the smugglers. It's not like there's any jobs here."

"I hope so. To be perfectly honest, though, the only thing I care about right now is her."

"Docs," Marquez said, running into the room. "General Rozenfeld wants to talk to you now."

"Did he say about what?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, he's always sharing his inner thoughts with me," Marquez said sarcastically. "Hit line two before it blows up."

Syd sighed and walked over to the phone, hitting the button. "General," Kurt said before Syd could say anything.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked through the phone. "I told you to turn that girl over and now I hear she's headed to your OR. Did you understand that was a direct order to release her? You are to stop immediately."

"Sir, this is Captain Hummel. She's actually not headed to surgery. She's in surgery with Major Jennings."

"Why the hell would you do that?" the general asked as Syd's eyes widened. "I'm going to stomp your ass so hard."

"Sir, her heart was barely beating. She could have died. I thought it was a worse situation to have an Afghan national die on our base so I started on her. Then Major Jennings had to step in and help."

"If she dies, I'm going to fry both your asses. You fix her up and get her off this base ASAP. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir." He watched as Syd ended the call. "Major…"

"Don't say a word," she snapped. "You just lied to a general. Get your ass in there and help."

Back at the scene of the accident, they were all still running around, trying to find Frankie. "Hey, Rach? You see that?" he asked, shining his light above him.

She ran over and shined the light next to him. "Is that a car seat?" she asked, squinting.

Back at the hospital, most of the staff was crowded around the nurses' station desk, waiting to hear word on if they found the boy. "They find him yet?" Sam asked, coming up with a clipboard in his hand.

"No," Puck said.

"They will."

"No thanks to me."

"You couldn't go man," Sam said. "You hurt your shoulder."

"I know you're trying to make me feel better, Sam, but it's not helping."

Artie looked up and saw Kitty standing on the other side of the desk. He walked over to where she was and stood next to her. "Look, I read your background. Did a lot of work on the rez clinic. Did a lot of thing that interns don't normally do until their second year. I get it. Doesn't mean you know everything."

"I never said I know everything. Is that your idea of apologizing? Because it's not very good."

"Apology? Why would I apologize? I'm just saying that I'm here to help. If you have any questions, just ask. If I'm too busy on a shift or something, we can meet before or after work—"

"Are you hitting on me?"

"What? No."

"Dude," Kitty said. "Don't hit on women in the workplace. That is so unprofessional."

"That's not even where I was going with it. I was trying…I was trying…"

"I'm messing with you," Kitty said slowly. "I had to get even with you for pranking me. I so had you."

"Yeah, for a second."

"Everybody be quiet!" Puck said, picking up the phone.

"We found him. We found the boy," one of the EMTs said.

"Alright, take him down," Finn said while they were still at the scene. "Pulse is thready and he feels hypothermic."

"He's not responding," Rachel said.

"We gotta get him in the chopper."

They lifted him up and ran towards the chopper, hoping they weren't too late to save his life.

Back in Afghanistan, Syd was starting to operate on Sharbat. "Opening the pericardium now."

"Ready with suction," Kurt said.

"Okay, retract."

"The general wants an update, Major," Marquez said, coming into the OR.

"Could go either way."

The door opened up and Sharbat's husband stormed in. "Sir, you can't come in," Marquez said.

"Give me my wife!"

"You can't do that," Syd said. "She's open on our table and you're not sterile. You need to get the hell out of here."

"Not this time."

"Tommy, call the MPs," Kurt said. "Listen," he said, turning around. "I'm getting real sick of you—" He was cut off by Sharbat's husband pointing a gun at his head.

"Give her to me."

"Why don't you just drop it," Kurt asked as he rushed forward towards her husband to try and get it out of his hands. The gun went off and they both fell to the floor.

 _ **TO BE CONTINUED**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: The Thing With Feathers**

 **Author's Note: Hi everyone. Here's the continuation of the last chapter. Hopefully you don't hate me too much. As always, I don't own Glee, The Night Shift or any of their characters.**

"Kurt!" Syd kept yelling as he rolled over and looked at the blood on his surgical gloves. "Are you okay?"

"I'm shot. I'm shot!" Sharbat's husband said, looking at the blood coming from his shoulder.

"GSW to the left shoulder," Kurt said as he stood up.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, the gun just went off, Syd."

There was a commotion at the door as guards came in. "He shot me. Arrest him. He shot me!"

"Yeah, and now he's going to fix you up," Syd said. "So that way I can save your wife and baby. You check him out. If his vitals are stable, you get him straight to CT," Syd said, directing Kurt. "Can you at least do that?"

Kurt looked slightly shell shocked as he left the room.

Syd shook her head and turned back to Sharbat. "I need someone to clean up this blood, stat. Okay, where were we?"

Back in San Antonio, the helicopter was getting ready to take off to bring Frankie back to the hospital. "Okay, let's go. Come on," Finn said once him and Rachel climbed into the chopper.

"The pilot says the wind's gusting too much," one of the paramedics said. "It's not safe to fly."

"Come on, Frankie," Rachel said. "He looks cyanotic. His abdomen's rigid and he's bleeding internally. We need to warm him up now or his blood won't clot. I can warm him from the inside. Frankie, honey, this is going to sting a little bit," she said, injecting something into him. He started groaning and Rachel sighed. "It's okay, honey. We're going to take care of you. Scalpel," Rachel said, holding out her hand as Finn placed it in there. "Alright, sweetie, here we go," she said, cutting into him. "Chest tube," she said, holding out her hand again.

"Come on," Finn said anxiously.

"I'm in."

"Okay."

"Saline."

"We've been cleared for takeoff," the paramedic said.

"He's waking up. Good job, Rach."

"Thanks. You too." Rachel looked over at Finn and saw the look on his face. "You okay?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah."

The helicopter lifted off and started flying back to the hospital.

Back at the hospital, Brody was prepping Artie for the rest of the shift. "I'm gonna be swamped so I need you to cover the ER for me. Remember, you represent the surgical department down there, so—"

"No reindeer games. I got it."

"Don't fight with that girl, Kitty. She'll kill you." The two of them stopped outside of the victim's room. "How's Joan doing?"

"She was oxygenating for awhile so I took her off the vent. Still seems a bit confused though. She's acting nervous and asking a lot of questions about Frankie."

"She's worried about her son. I think I can help with that." Brody opened the door and walked into the room. "Joan, Francis, I've got some good news. They found your boy."

"Frankie? He's here?" Joan asked, sitting up in bed.

"Thank god, is he okay?" Francis asked.

"Joan, you're tearing your sutures," Brody said, noticing the blood coming from her neck. "You should relax. Push morphine, please."

"What's happening?"

"She tore her sutures," Artie said. "We've got to get her to the OR before she bleeds out."

"Dr. Puckerman will fill you in on your son," Brody said as they started taking her back to the OR.

Things weren't any calmer in Afghanistan. After Sharbat's surgery, Syd was on the phone with the general. "Yes, Akmal's vitals are stable. Yes, sir. We're waiting on the CT results to determine the location of the bullet."

"I told you to get them off the base and I meant it," General Rozenfeld's voice rang out over the phone. Syd held it away from her ear so Kurt, who would just come up beside her, could hear what he was saying. "This is the last we're discussing the matter."

"Yes, sir. Yes, I will handle it. I will. I will handle it." She hung up the phone and sighed. "We are so screwed. It was bad enough you lied to the general."

"He brought a gun into the OR. What did you want me to do?" Kurt asked, following Syd as she started walking.

"Let the MPs handle it. You know how this looks, Kurt? You didn't want Sharbat to go. That's on record. Now you're involved with Akmal's shooting? You could be facing an Article 15."

"It was self-defense. You want me to wait for backup to get there? Akmal could have killed us all. You do realize that, right? You have nine days left, Major. You want your daughter to be motherless because—"

"Don't. Don't ever, _ever_ say that."

"I'm just pointing out the fact…"

"This is over. This is the Army, Kurt. This is not a democracy. We have orders to follow and follow them we will."

"Okay so just to hell with the Hippocratic oath. Just throw that out the window."

"So here's how this is going to happen, alright? When Sharbat and Akmal are stable, they leave. We do not interfere with local medical decisions. That comes straight from the Pentagon."

"Okay, but if I may—"

"No, you may not, Captain. I have given a year of my life to this dump. In 14 days, my daughter Riley turns 13 and I am going home. I am not missing that because you forgot the chain of command. Are we clear?"

"Yes ma'am. Sorry ma'am," Kurt said as Syd started to walk away.

Back at the hospital, Rachel, Finn and the paramedic were bringing Frankie into the hospital. "Rachel, you wanna take Frankie up?"

"No, go on up. I'll stay on the floor."

Finn nodded as they wheeled the gurney over to where Brody was standing. "We got the temp up. HE's in hypoglycemic shock, injury to the bowel that filled the belly with blood."

"We've got to open him up to stop the bleeding. Hang O-neg and put him on the cell saver," Brody said. "I'm scrubbing in." He turned to face Finn. "Artie's closing on Frankie's mom right now."

"I thought she was out of surgery," Finn said, following Brody as he walked to the scrub room.

"She was despondent post-op and ripped her sutures. We ran her back in."

"I was only with her two hours ago," Finn said, sighing. "If I'd seen her maybe in the recovery room…"

"Hey, you saved a dying woman. You can't be in two places at once."

"Yeah, but try telling him that," Finn said, tilting his head towards Francis.

In Afghanistan, Kurt was coming up to Syd to give her an update. "If it's bad news, keep walking."

"We got lucky," Kurt said. "Akmal just had a through and through in the shoulder. I repaired it and sent him to recovery. How's Sharbat?"

"Critical. But her cardiac output is good."

"Her family sold her to that dirtbag when she was just 13, Major."

Syd gave him a look as they heard commotion outside the room. "Sounds like Sharbat's brother finally tracked her down."

"Son of a bitch. Now her drug dealing brother's here?"

"She asked to see him, Kurt."

"I don't care. He's not coming in here."

"Marquez, have the MPs bring him in," Syd said. "Make sure he's been patted down."

Marquez nodded and went over to the door. "Okay. Bring him in, Sergeant."

The guards started walking towards the room and revealed a boy who looked younger than Sharbat. "My name is Omed Gilzhai. I demand to see my sister."

"Scary drug dealer, huh? How do you feel about him now?" Syd asked.

"Don't even," Kurt responded.

Back at the hospital, the paramedic who flew in with Finn and Rachel walked over to where Rachel was standing. "Badass save out there, doc."

"We got lucky," Rachel said, juggling with what she was holding.

"So, any chance you reconsidered what I asked?"

"Still not a good time, Kenny," she said quickly.

"It's not you, it's me. Got it. After three times, quit asking."

Rachel watched him walk off and slightly rolled her eyes and Kitty came up next to her. "You just went Dr. No on the hot fireman?"

"What?"

"Your nickname at the clinic. After all the dudes you shot down."

"Who are you, Dr. Yes?" Rachel asked as they started walking.

"With him? Dr. Hell Yes."

"Oh, Kitty. Do not date guys from work. It's not worth it. Trust me."

"Yeah, Finn _and_ Dr. Weston? That must have been interesting."

"Shut it."

"Sorry. Filter malfunction. Anyway, I just got a new case. Frat brother doing a Jackass gag. He wrestled in a ring of thumb tacks. I'm working him up but I need you to sign off on my discharge first." They went to a different exam room and pulled the curtain. "Ranchero with a cold wants to go. Reminds me of my grandpa who used to run cattle on the res."

"Presenting symptoms?" Rachel asked, holding her hand out for the clipboard.

"Weakness, chills, sounded viral. I told him to go home and sleep it off."

Rachel looked over the clipboard and handed it back to Kitty. "Okay, just give us a minute," she said to the patient. She pulled Kitty aside. "You missed something. Positive belt buckle sign."

"You're joking, right?"

"No. Stoic Hispanic men like him only see a doctor if there is something massively wrong."

"But his exam is normal?"

"Did your grandfather go to the hospital?"

"Only if he thought he was dying. I'll see you in curtain one."

Across from where they were standing, Puck was working on a patient when Sam came up to him. "Yo, Puck. So, I was thinking about you getting back out there."

"I don't have time for your gym."

"No, you don't have to. We can do it here. I'll be your life coach."

"That's a good one," Puck said as he started laughing.

"Okay. Fine. I tried. It's your life. Whatever's left of it," he said as he walked away.

"Here's the labs you requested for the little boy in the OR," Mollie said, handing Puck a file.

"Thanks," he said absentmindedly. "Sam! Sorry, I snapped at you," Puck said, catching up to where Sam was. "If we were to do this – and I do mean if – how would it work?"

"For starters, we change your bad habits. Stand while you chart. Hit the stairs. I mean, have you even heard of an apple? That's like your third bag of chips in the last hour."

"Look, I wanna get out and do more badass field stuff. But more than that, I don't want to be the old dad at soccer who can't play with his kid. So as long as that gets me there."

"Absolutely," Sam said. "I mean, you won't look like this," he said, gesturing to his body, "but you won't look like that."

"Okay coach."

"Okay!" Sam said. "Let me track your heart rate, calories burned and steps for my phone. I use it with all my clients."

"That's a little creepy, but okay. I'm gonna see the kid," Puck said, pushing the up button on the elevator.

"Surgery's on the third floor."

"I know."

"Hit the stairs," Sam said, holding open the door.

"Great idea," Puck said flatly.

Across the hospital, Finn was telling Francis about what happened to Frankie. "So, Frankie injured his small bowel when he was thrown. Our surgeon is removing the damaged tissues now, so…"

"We adopted Frankie."

"Yeah?"

"We couldn't get pregnant. We got him and now…he's a part of us. If we lost him, Joan would never forgive herself. She grew up Pentecostal. She thinks this is God punishing her."

"I know how hard this is. But he's going to make it. I promise."

"Do me a favor, doc," Francis said. "If you have bad news, you tell me, not Joan. She can get a little hysterical."

"Of course, Francis." He looked down the hallway and saw Puck walking towards him. "Would you excuse me for a minute?" he asked.

"I just got Frankie's labs," Puck whispered. "His platelets and white blood cells are way down. Does Brody know?"

"It's doubtful. He's too busy putting him back together." Finn sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I just told Frankie's dad he was gonna make it."

"Why'd you do that?"

"I don't know. It just sort of came out. I guess I better go help Brody," Finn said as he walked away.

Back in the exam room, Rachel and Kitty were looking over Mr. Martinez's chart. "Okay, sir, this might just be the flu but we want to make sure it's nothing more serious, so we're going to run a few more tests."

"No tests," he said. "I just have a susto."

"A fright illness?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow. "Okay." She asked him something in Spanish and he looked horrified at her.

"I'm not scared of nothing."

"Okay. Well, I like your bracelets. Are they helping with your arthritis?"

"Si. My curandera gave them to me."

"Your healer. Okay. Did she give you anything for your susto?" Rachel asked. He started digging around for something and pulled it out, handing it to Rachel. "Well, I don't get it. If you have a cure, why are you here?"

"My patron won't let me work without a doctor's note. I break horses."

"My gramps did that. He put them on a long rope, let them run, then bring it in a little at a time," Kitty said. "They're like people. They hate being told what to do."

"I like this girl. She's smart."

"I'll tell you what," Rachel said. "Why don't you let us do our jobs so we can get you back to yours."

In Afghanistan, Omed was looking at Sharbat's unconscious form. "He beat her while she was pregnant?" Kurt asked. "And that's not against the law."

"Akmal is the law. We shamed him by trying to leave. After the baby comes, he will kill us both. Unless I can get us to Australia."

"It's the Stone Ages. I get it, but our hands are tied," Syd said. The heart rate monitor started beeping and Syd pulled back Sharbat's hospital gown. "The baby is having recurrent decelerations." She did an ultra sound and sighed. "Damn. The uterine lac has extended."

"My baby?" Sharbat asked as she started waking up. "How's my baby?"

"Everyone is fine. You have a visitor," Syd said, smiling.

"Omed?" Sharbat asked, looking out to see her brother. "You didn't go?"

"Without you? Never."

Kurt and Syd let the two of them catch up as they walked out of earshot to start talking. "The uterine lac is rapidly expanding. How many C-sections have you done?"

"Two," Kurt said.

"Great. That's one more than me. You're hired."

Back at the hospital, Finn put on a mask and walked into the OR. "How's he doing?"

"I removed the injured bowel but he's oozing everywhere," Brody said.

"It's because he has no platelets. He needs them to clot. These should help."

"Temp's up to 104. He went from freezing to burning up."

"His white blood cell count is down too," Finn said. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Traumatic bone marrow failure. Without working bone marrow, he can't make new blood cells, which means he can't clot or fight infection. He needs a transplant. Go test the parents for a match."

"Won't help. He's adopted."

"Well, try and track down his birth mother. That's his best shot. We can start him on antibiotics and slow the infection but without a transplant…"

"I'm on it," Finn said, leaving the OR.

"Find me a match or he's not gonna make it."

In Afghanistan, Kurt was getting ready to perform the C-section on Sharbat. "Are you sure you don't want us to put you under?" Syd asked. "You could wake up and your son would be right here."

"No, not with Akmal around. I have to be awake to protect my son."

"I would do the same thing," Syd said.

"You have kids, doctor?"

"I do," Syd said, starting to smile. "I have a daughter named Riley in Texas. She's going to be 13 in two weeks."

"I married Akaml at 13."

"Yeah? Well, Riley's going to have a slumber party for her birthday. It's going to be no boys allowed."

"Your daughter's lucky to have such a strong role model," Kurt said. "The Army's tough on women. Especially moms."

"Yeah, well, if you don't push for change, it never happens."

"You got that right."

"Well, it still sucks. My ex has this girly girlfriend, Lexi. She's got fake nails, hair, boobs, the whole thing. She wants Riley to do beauty pageants."

The monitor started beeping and Kurt frantically looked at it. "Baby wants out," he said.

"Is he okay?" Sharbat asked.

"He's going to be fine," Syd said. "We just have to start the surgery now. I want you to breathe like I showed you. In through your nose, out through your mouth."

"Starting low transverse incision," Kurt said.

"Tell me more about her. Riley."

"Well, she's tall, like her daddy, and she can beat up any boy in her class. I guess she gets that from me." Syd smiled to herself. "We got this, Sharbat."

Back at the hospital, Artie jogged towards Puck. "Hey, Puck, you called for a surgical consult?"

"I did. Where's Brody?"

"In surgery. I'm covering the ER for him."

Puck thought to himself for a second. "That's alright. I'm good. I had a bowel obstruction I wanted a consult on. I was 99 percent sure it wasn't acutely surgical so I sent him up."

"Oh. Okay. Uh, if you change your mind…"

"Hey, I'm sorry. It's hard to headline in your hometown."

Artie thought to himself for a second. "But I'm from Philly."

"It's an expression. You started as an intern so everybody sees you as their little brother. You want to be taken seriously, present with authority. You are a surgeon. Own it."

"Copy," Artie said, walking away as Rachel and Kitty walked up.

"His sodium levels are good, which rules out hypernatremia," Kitty said.

"Did you check his herbs?"

"Rosemary and basil. All benign."

"Excuse me," someone said, walking up to the nurses' station. "I'm looking for Augusto Martinez. I'm his daughter, Carly."

"One moment, please," the nurse said as Rachel and Kitty stopped walking.

"Excuse me, Miss Martinez?" Rachel said. "I'm Dr. Berry and this is Dr. Wilde. We're helping your dad."

"Is he okay? I was at my office. I didn't get the message."

"At one in the morning?" Kitty asked.

"I'm in the middle of a big case."

"He's lethargic and claims that his spirit was frightened from his body," Rachel said.

"That stupid witch doctor," Carly scoffed.

"Did anything happen to him recently? Was he in an accident?"

"Not that I know of," Carly said as her phone started ringing. "Sorry, it's my client. We have court in the morning. I'll find you." She answered the call and walked off.

"Rachel," Jocelyn said, coming up to her. "Mr. Martinez's BP is dropping in curtain one. He just passed out."

Across the hospital, Finn knocked on Joan's recovery room door, hoping he'd be able to talk to Francis without worrying Joan more than she needed to. "How's she doing?" he asked when Francis met him in the hallway.

"Still sleepy. How's my son?"

"He has an infection in his blood. We're keeping it in check with antibiotics but his bone marrow has gone into failure. He can't make white cells to fight the infection. He's going to need a transplant."

"A transplant?"

"Yeah. We need to find his birth mother. Are you still in contact with her?" Finn asked. He noticed the uncomfortable look on his face. "Francis?"

"She was a drug addict," he said. "It was a closed adoption. We never met. Test me, maybe I'm a match."

"The chances of a random match are very slim."

"Doc, I want to do everything I can for my son. Please. Even if it's one in a billion." He looked back into the recovery room. "I'll go tell her."

Finn watched the two of them talk before he shook his head and walked away.

In Mr. Martinez's room, things weren't going well for him. "Okay, Mr. Martinez, your heart rate and your temperature are abnormally low, which is why you passed out," Rachel said.

"What's causing it?" Carly asked, barely looking up from her phone.

"Hard to say," Kitty said. "So far his tests are all normal but we'd like to check a few more things."

"No more tests. I can't afford them."

"You don't have to worry, papi."

"I don't want your money, Carolina."

"Why not? Because I'm not cleaning houses like Ernesto's daughter? Or selling sugar pills like your witch doctor?"

"Okay, everybody. Let's just focus, here," Rachel said.

"Don't you look down your nose at me."

"Not you. The con artists."

"Folk cures are placebos. Studies show hope helps patients get well," Kitty said.

"The only thing healthy here is her bank account," Carly said with a laugh. "She's robbed him blind."

"At least she listens to him. You didn't even know he was sick."

"Excuse me?"

"Okay," Rachel said, cutting the two of them off before they could start fighting. "Dr. Wilde, a word? Outside."

Across the hospital, Puck was getting a soda from the vending machines before turning around and almost running into Sam. "Oh. Sam. I, uh, didn't see you there."

"Dude. This thing has 50 grams of sugar."

"Look. It has one percent daily riboflavin. It's basically medicine," Puck said, taking the drink back from Sam. "How did you find me, anyway?"

"Ta da!" Sam said, holding up his phone.

"This tracker, you'd make a great stalker, Sam. You should consider a career change.

"You should think about stepping it up, man. My grandma moves more than you."

"She should take it easy then." He waited until Sam was gone then looked around for someone. "Ray. Perfect. Hey, when you're moving around patients, can you wear this?" Puck took the tracker off and handed it to him.

"I've already got one, Dr. P," he said, holding up his wrist.

"Now you have two. And look, it comes with this," Puck said, handing him money. "If anyone asks, you didn't get it from me. Thanks Ray," Puck said, walking away.

Rachel went up to Kitty at the nurses' station desk. "So, what the hell was that?" she asked. "You do not take sides in a family argument. Do you hear me?"

"She's bullying him. My mom did that to my grandpa. His voice was like a dog whistle to her."

"Kitty, you cannot bring emotion into this job. It clouds your judgment and it can hurt your patient."

"So be a robot?"

"Be professional. I gave you a lot of leeway at the reservation clinic but it's not going to fly here."

"It won't happen again."

"Yeah. You're damn straight it won't," Rachel said as she started walking away.

"Rachel!" she heard a familiar voice call from behind her, causing her to freeze.

 _Please not Annie. Please not right now_ , she thought to herself. "Annie…" she said, trying to muster as much enthusiasm as she could. "I heard a rumor you were back."

"I'm sober. Five months now."

"Yeah, Finn didn't mention that."

"Well, you guys have a lot of stuff to not talk about besides me. I'm sorry about everything that happened with—"

"Nope, that's not necessary," Rachel said, cutting her off.

"I know. I just gotta say this." She ran a hand down Rachel's arm reassuringly. She spotted Puck and waved. "Hi Puck."

"Hey," he said, turning around slightly in his chair so he could eavesdrop.

"Anyway, you always tried to help me and I repaid you by being a total bitch. I'm really sorry. And I'm not asking for forgiveness, Rachel. I'm just trying not to make the same mistakes again."

"How's that going for you?"

"It sucks. But in a good way. So, I'm volunteering at a halfway house and I'll be here from time to time. I'll see you!" Annie said, bouncing off.

Rachel turned to Puck and gave him a horrified look. "What?"

"Crazy, right? She showed up a month ago, gave Finn 47 bucks and is determined to pay him back. I hope it works out, right? Time will tell."

Rachel ran a hand through her hair. "I did not see that one coming."

"Dr. Berry!" Carly said. "My dad, he won't wake up. Just fix him. Do something," she said as Rachel ran in there.

Finn came up to the nurses' station desk and stood next to Puck. "Hey, Puck, I need Frankie's adoption records ASAP so I can contact his birth mother. Does your cousin still clerk for the state?"

"Yeah, I'll call him right now. But dude, it's a needle in a haystack the size of Texas."

"I know," Finn said as he started walking off.

Puck shook his head as he turned his attention to a folder. "Oh my god!" he heard Santana yell.

"Santana? You okay?"

"Yeah. Have you seen Sam?"

"I'm dodging him but he ran a patient up to radiology. Be back in 10."

Santana nodded. "Copy that," she said into her walkie talkie. "I gotta go."

"You want me to leave him a message?" Puck asked as she started to leave.

"No, no. I'll catch him after the shift. Thanks, Puck!"

"Happy to help."

Back in Afghanistan, Sharbat's C-section went fine. "He's beautiful, Sharbat. You did great," Syd said. "Cutting the umbilical cord. Let's clean him up," she said.

"He's not breathing," Kurt said as the monitor started beeping.

"Please help him," Sharbat said as she started panicking.

"We will. We just need you to stay calm," Syd said.

"I lost his pulse."

"Please, save my baby. Please help him."

"Come on, buddy. Come on," Syd said.

"Please save my baby. Please save him," Sharbat said.

"We need to push epi. We don't have a line so we'll have to go through the umbilical cord," Kurt said.

"Pushing the catheter," Syd said.

"What's happening? Please save him."

"Tie it off, doctor," Syd said, trying to block out Sharbat's cries.

"Okay, I'm in," Kurt said. "Come on."

Syd turned around to Sharbat. "Try to stay calm. We've got this."

"Push the epi," Kurt said.

"Epi in." The two of them watched for a second. "Come on, buddy."

They breathed a sigh of relief when they heard him start crying. "He's got a good set of lungs on him," Syd said.

Back at the hospital, Rachel and Kitty were trying to figure out what was happening to Mr. Martinez. "No pneumonia or tumors. What are all these bony abnormalities on the chest x-ray."

"Scarring from old fractures. These guys, they get thrown off of horses, kicked. I told you, they're tough."

"Yeah, they are," Kitty said as the heart rate monitor started beeping.

"Okay, his heart rate keeps dropping. Let's give him 0.5 of atropine."

Kitty injected it into the IV in his arm. "It's not doing anything."

"Alright, let's put him on pacer pads. We might need to pace him externally."

Carly walked into the room and started talking immediately. "I just talked to the Chief of Internal Medicine at Northwest. And she said that this is a beta blocker overdose and he needs glucagon right now."

"Okay, that's an interesting theory, but he's not on beta blockers," Rachel said.

"Then what's wrong with him?"

"I don't have an answer."

"Well you better find one. Because if you don't, I'm going to sue you and this lousy excuse for a hospital for malpractice."

Rachel sighed. "Is that how you handle everything? By bullying people? You know, maybe if you spent a little less time on that phone of yours and more time with him, he wouldn't be here."

Carly gave Rachel a shocked look and stormed out of the exam room.

"Do as I say, not as I do, right?" Kitty asked.

"Kitty, right now I need smart. Smart ass is a waste of my time. We've obviously missed something so let's run his labs again."

Back in Afghanistan, Sharbat was holding her baby as Kurt and Syd talked in the hallway. "General Rozenfeld called. Marquez told him both patients are in recovery," Syd said.

"I talked to Omed. They can still make it to Australia."

"No, it's too late. Akmal's going to wake up any minute."

"Actually, I miscalculated his weight during anesthesia. I thought he was 220 but it turns out he's 180. The post-op morphine might have been too much."

"You dosed him? On who's orders?"

"My patient, my call," Kurt said as Syd scoffed. "We can get them back on track, Major. We can do this. We've come this far."

"Dr. Syd," Sharbat said, "Do you want to hold Umayd?"

Syd smiled and walked back into her room, taking the baby boy from her hands. "Umayd. That's a beautiful name."

"It means hope."

Syd sighed and turned to look at Kurt. "What did you have in mind?"

Back at the hospital, Artie walked up to where Kitty was standing at the nurses' station. "Dr. Wilde."

"Not now, Artie, I'm charting."

"It's Dr. Abrams."

Sam laughed. "Dr. Abrams. Somebody put on his big boy pants."

"Try it sometime, Nurse Evans." Artie pulled back the curtains to one of the rooms. "Darren Cardiff."

"Thumb tack man," Kitty said, turning around to look. "I started removing the tacks, then got pulled into a critical case. I handed it off to a nurse."

"And why did you not call for a trauma consult?"

"The wounds are all shallow. I'm sealing it with surgical glue."

"On whose authority? You are an intern. Did you even check a chest x-ray for a pneumo?"

"Dude didn't want stitches, doctor," Sam chimed in. "So I suggested another way."

"The ER uses consultations for a reason, Dr. Wilde. 41 puncture wounds is a trauma. Next time, call me instead of asking a nurse or I will note it in your resident file."

Across the hospital, Brody and Finn were talking about Frankie. "His bleeding has stopped by his BP is still dropping. He's in shock. We need that match. Any luck finding the birth mother?"

"No. Francis said he didn't know," Finn said. "He's fuzzy on the whole thing. Couldn't remember her name or the adoption agency."

"How do you forget where your kid came from? My parents can still tell you the address of their adoption lawyer."

"Exactly. So I spoke to Puck's cousin and the state has no adoption records for Frankie. He doesn't exist."

"That's impossible. The courts keep records on everything. I've seen my own adoption records."

"You know what else is weird? He made me promise not to talk to his wife and didn't want to upset her."

"Well, she completely freaked out when we told her you found Frankie. She tore her stitches."

"That's a pretty extreme reaction," Finn said, thinking to himself.

"Yeah it is," Brody said, looking at Finn. "What are you thinking? This isn't passing the sniff test?"

"Something stinks for sure. My gut's telling me to keep asking questions."

"I'd start with the mother," Brody said as he walked away.

Finn started walking to Joan's recovery room. When he got there, he looked around to make sure Francis wasn't around the room so he could talk to her on his own. "Joan," he said, walking over to bed. "It's Dr. Hudson. Frankie needs your help."

"Is Frankie going to die?"

"He's very sick. He needs a bone marrow transplant. We need to find his birth family. But there's no record of his adoption anywhere. Can you tell me why?"

"I'm so sorry."

"We all make mistakes. Usually, it's just we have to deal with them but I don't care what you did back there. I just care what you do now."

"I'd trade my life for his."

"Then tell me about Frankie, Joan."

"I was always meant to be a mother but God wouldn't give me a baby. And then one day, we were coming out of the movie theater and there was Frankie in a stroller. And he smiled at me. And I just knew in my heart he was mine."

"Where did god give Frankie to you?"

"In a mall. In Austin."

Finn stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

A little while later, he walked over to the nurses' station where he saw Brody and Rachel talking.

"I mean, I thought it was Finn just being Finn but he was right and he found the truth."

Finn coughed slightly and Rachel and Brody turned to look at him. "Chicago PD contacted the birth parents. Rick and Lisa Moran. They moved to Chicago last year and the son's case went cold."

"Well, with memories of the loss everywhere, who could blame them?" Rachel said.

"They're on a plane right now from O'Hare."

"That's three hours away. He won't make it that long."

"Fetal cord blood. We were going to save it, remember?" Rachel said. "Maybe Frankie's birth parents saved his."

"They're on a plane right now. We can't reach them."

"We don't have to," Brody said. "There's a cryo bank in Austin where Frankie was stolen. I'll call." Brody walked off and Finn took his spot.

"Fetal cord blood. Good call, Rachel."

"Yeah, well, we said it would come in handy. Looks like it did," Rachel said, giving him a cautious smile.

"Yeah," Finn said, returning the smile.

"I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry." She looked up and saw Carly pacing the hallway. "I've gotta check on a patient," she said, walking away as she felt her heart ache a little. "Ms. Martinez, I owe you an apology," she said once they got into her father's room. "I had no right to talk to you like that."

"No, you're right. My dad and I would never talk. My mom died when I was little. It was just me and my dad. He worked so hard so I could have everything I needed."

"And you worked hard so he could stop."

"I made partner and bought a home in Alamo Heights. I asked him to move in but he wouldn't give up that ratty trailer at that ranch. No matter what I do, he still cares about his horses more than me."

"I don't think that's true," Rachel said, sighing. "I'm a lot like your dad. I work so I can avoid things and to feel like I'm in control. That's why he won't leave the ranch. And why you're in the office until 1 a.m." Rachel heard the monitor start beeping.

"What's happening?" Carly asked, rushing to her father's side.

"His heart rate's in his 30s."

"Please be careful," Carly said as Kitty came in.

"We tried pacing him but we're not getting much capture. What do his labs say?" Rachel asked Kitty.

"I reviewed everything. Those fractures were the only abnormality."

Rachel thought to herself for a second. "I got it. Okay, uh," she said, looking at his x-ray. "There it is. A healed fracture of the hyoid bone."

"His throat injury, plus bradycardia, plus hypothermia adds up to hypothyroidism. He's in a myxedema coma."

"Let's give him 500 micrograms of synthroid IV. We're going to jump start his thyroid." Rachel watched the heart monitor as Kitty injected the drug into his IV. "He's lost his pulse. Let's start CPR. Come on, Mr. Martinez," she said, not taking her eyes off the monitor.

Out in the hallway, Ray the orderly was coming up to Sam. "Hey, Sam? Admin papers for trauma two."

"Great," Sam said, reaching out to take them. He noticed the fitness tracker on his wrist. "Yo, you got the T900? That thing's banging, right?"

"I just got it. I like my old one better," he said, showing Sam the one on his other wrist.

"You just got it? From Puck? You've got to be kidding me," he said, running off.

Puck walked outside and saw someone smoking. "Tough night," he said, walking over to her. "Mind if I bum one?" She held out the pack and he took it. "Thanks. You got a light?" He looked up when he heard thunder crashing and saw Sam.

"You know, sneaking soda, Ray the orderly…I get it. We're playing. But smoking? Come on, man. It's just wrong."

"I'm going to save you the speech, okay? I made a promise. I'm just cheating myself. I got small children, remember?"

"So that means you can act like one?"

"I don't need a drill sergeant. I was a Ranger. I ran 12 miles with a 60 pound pack in three hours."

"Where's that guy now?"

"He's gone. He's eaten up by long hours, small children, a wife who's pissed because my mom's visiting for a month. All that will kill me long before this does," Puck said, holding up the unlit cigarette."

"You're a grown man. If you wanna quit, then quit. I don't need you giving me crap." He got up and watched one of the ambulances leave. "That's the kid's fetal cord blood. They flew it in from Austin."

"Finn found it?"

"No quit in him. Enjoy your butt," Sam said as he walked back into the hospital.

"Smoke it," the lady next to him said. "What does he know?"

Back in Afghanistan, Syd was giving Omed and Sharbat supplies to get them safely to Australia. "She should be able to walk in about a week or so. I need you to give the antibiotics to her three times a day when you change the dressing. You remember how?"

"Yes," Omed said as Kurt came up behind Syd. "I am like a doctor now."

"Whoa, pump the break there, Omed," Kurt said with a slight laugh. "Just…take care of her. She needs you now more than ever."

"As-salamu alayki, Sharbat," Syd said."

"Wa'alikum asalaam. Thank you both."

Kurt shut the doors to the truck and watched it pull out. "So, they found a safe house in Kabul?"

"Then they gotta walk across the Pakistan border, take a bus to Karachi, fly to Jakarta and sail to Christmas Island."

"Wow," Syd said. "Think they'll make it?"

"They have a chance. They didn't before. What made you change your mind?"

"Riley. I thought about what would happen if she were in trouble like Sharbat. I would want someone to help her. Someone who did it because it was the right thing to do."

They heard a truck pull up and it stopped right beside them. "Major. Captain. General Rozenfeld wants to see you."

"We just got out of surgery. We need to change and shower," Syd said.

"Sorry, he said now."

A short drive later, they were at the offices where the general was. "You were given strict orders not to meddle in local medical matters. Her husband wanted to take her to a midwife. Instead, you performed a C-section."

"Sir, in the captain's defense, we were doing our job."

"That job has changed, Major. You of all people should know that."

"With all due respect, sir, our partner nearly killed his wife and baby simply because he didn't want to be embarrassed," Kurt said.

The general looked out the window and saw Akmal getting out of a car. "Shit. Look, I know this place is jacked. Hell, I even respect what you did. But the Afghanis want your head on a stick. I have no choice. Captain Hummel, your tour is over."

"Sir, I have three months left on my tour."

"You had three months. You'll be stateside next week. As for you, Major. With the captain gone, we're grossly understaffed. Which means while he's back in Texas enjoying barbecue, your tour is extended another three months. Dismissed."

Back at the hospital, Artie walked up to where Sam was standing at the nurses' station. "You paged me for a consult?"

"Oh, right this way," Sam said. "We have a patient with massive cranial swelling."

"Cerebral thrombosis," Artie said.

"Well, we checked that. This guy's head literally blew up for no reason," Sam said, pulling back the curtain.

Artie looked up and saw a balloon with a picture of his face taped on it.

"Can you explain it, Dr. Abrams? Because we lowly nurses sure as hell can't."

"Hilarious, Sam."

In Mr. Martinez's room, things were looking up for him. "Pulse and blood pressure are up," Kitty said.

"Thank you, Dr. Berry. And…I'm sorry I took out my issues on you."

"Heat of the battle," Rachel said.

Carly gasped as her father started waking up. "Welcome back, papi," she said tearfully.

"Carolina? You're here."

"I am. And so are you. Thanks to them."

"How are you feeling, Mr. Martinez?"

"Tired. But my susta is gone."

"Well, if you want it to stay that way, you're going to need some strong medicine. And you might not like it," Rachel said.

"Whatever you say, curandera."

"Move in with your daughter. Let her take care of you, see you eat right, take your synthroid. Add years to your life. Because if you don't, your susta might just come back." Rachel smiled as she left the room, Kitty following her.

"Okay, you went from Dr. No to Dr. Phil. What happened?"

"I stopped taking my own advice."

"Can I do that too?"

"No. In fact, you and I need to chat about some ground rules. Over tequila. Later."

"Okay, well, I'm down with that."

"Good. Now get out of here and go do something."

Across the hospital, Brody was talking to Frankie's birth parents. "How long have you been in Chicago?"

"We moved last year," his mother said. "When the case went cold. I mean, it was so hard to go."

"And harder to stay."

"I can't imagine what you both have been through," Finn said. "But you kept paying to store the cord blood. Good call."

"We had to. It was all we had left of him besides Fufu," Mrs. Moran said, holding the stuffed bunny rabbit closer.

The four of them walked into Frankie's recovery room. "It's still very early but the transfusion has been bringing his fever down," Brody whispered. "Hey, Frankie. My name is Dr. Brody. You were in an accident, but you're okay now."

"I want my mommy," Frankie said as tears started falling from Mrs. Moran's eyes. Frankie looked at her and then the bunny in her hands. "Fufu?"

"He's missed you so much," she said, handing it to him. Frankie took it and squeezed it.

"I missed you, Fufu."

Finn blinked back tears, feeling happy for the family for being reunited but heartbroken over what could have been.

Rachel and Puck watched from the doorway and she didn't bother to hide her tears. She smiled at Puck and walked away.

Finn heard movement and saw Rachel walking faster than normal down the hallway. "Excuse me," he said, leaving Frankie's room. He followed Rachel into one of the staff bathrooms and saw her hovering over a sink, crying. "Hey," he said gently.

"Of course you're here right now," she said, looking at Finn in the mirror. "I'm glad everything worked out in the end."

Finn walked over to where she was standing and wrapped his arms around her as they both started crying.

A little while later and across the hospital, Francis was being led out in handcuffs. Rachel and Brody saw it as they were leaving the staff only room of the hospital. "What about Joan?" she asked.

"She's still in the ICU. I guess they were so desperate to have kids that they stole one. So twisted, huh?"

"Yeah," Rachel said, sighing.

"How'd your myxedema case of yours turn out?"

"We got him back and the daughter's not suing."

"How'd you pull that off?"

"She's not a bitch or anything. She was just trying to take control of a situation that she felt was out of her hands, which I get. I spent my whole life trying to plan every little thing. Saying no to anything that I couldn't control, not letting myself make any mistakes. After the baby and everything, I've been even more like that."

"Well, you're just keeping your eyes on the prize."

"What prize? More work?"

"Feeling like yourself again. You'll get there."

"I know one thing. I'm done with no. I want to see where yes gets me."

"You know where yes got me. AA. If l leave now, I can still make a meeting before all the donuts are gone," Brody said, hugging Rachel.

"Live and learn, Dr. Weston."

"That's how I roll."

Finn walked over to where Puck was standing. "Long night," he commented. "Now I need a drink. But I can't with Annie around."

"How about a run to blow off some steam?"

"A run? You?"

"I don't know. It's the new me. Annie was the old. I'm thinking of a 5K this year. You wanna be my training partner?" Puck asked.

"You mean kick your ass in a race?"

"Those are betting words, pal," Puck said as they walked out of the hospital.

"We okay, Dr. Abrams?" Sam asked as they were leaving the hospital.

"You tell me."

"Look, we're family here. We may mess with you sometimes, but we'll always have your back. Just don't be an ass."

"Lesson learned." Artie slapped Sam on the back and tapped a "Kick Me" sign to his back. Sam scoffed and pulled it off.

"Amateur," he said, walking out of the hospital.

"Hey!" Santana said. "Just the man I need to see."

"I like the sound of that."

"I got into Georgetown. They just emailed me. Somebody dropped out and I'm off the wait list."

"You got into Georgetown?"

"Yes! I got into Georgetown!"

"Yes! That's amazing!" he said, hugging his girlfriend. "We're going to celebrate all summer. Where you wanna go?"

"I gotta talk to you about that. I have to leave tomorrow."

"What?"

In Afghanistan, Kurt was Skyping with Blaine to tell him the news. "Yeah, I'll tell you a little more about it when I get back. I'll see you on Thursday."

At the computer next to him, Syd was Skyping with Riley. "I'm sorry I won't be able to be there for your birthday."

"I didn't think you'd make it anyway," Riley said, trying not to sound disappointed. "It's okay."

"Syd," Kurt said. "Is that Riley?"

"Honey, this is Kurt, who I was telling you about."

"I just wanted to tell you that your mom did amazing today. She was awesome. You would have been really proud of her. I was."

Riley smiled. "Hey, Mom, I gotta go. Lexie and I are trying on bridesmaid dresses."

"Bridesmaids? Who's getting married?" Syd asked, crinkling her nose.

"Lexie and dad."

"What?"

"They got engaged a few weeks ago. He didn't tell you?"

"Oh. Oh. Right."

"Anyway, I gotta go. Bye."

"Wait, 24," she said, trying to get it in before the connection died.

"She's beautiful, Syd," Kurt said from where he was standing.

"Thanks. I, uh, I got her a soccer ball sewn at a girls school in Kabul. It was a birthday present. Since you're going back, can you take it to her?"

"Sure. I'd be more than happy to take it to her. Syd, I don't even know—"

"Kurt, stop apologizing. This is what I signed up for. It may not be what Riley signed up for, but hey, what can I do about that?"

"Get hammered on near beer? I'm buying."

"Tempting. Rain check?"

"Yeah, of course. Good night, Major."

"Good night, Captain."

As they were running, Finn and Puck started talking. "So, the staring at Brody and Rachel earlier, was that wistful memories or painful future?"

"I don't know. After everything we've been through, nothing's easy anymore."

"Never is with you two. Meantime, if I were you, I'd start building up those chicken legs before someone tries to barbecue them. Get some sun on them. It's summertime."

"Enough talking. Let's go old man," Finn said as he started running faster.

"I'll catch up," Puck said, watching him run.

Across town, Rachel and Kitty were having breakfast. "Okay, Kitty, you don't have all the answers, okay? You're still an intern and you're going to make mistakes but it's how you learn. So every once in a while, maybe stop talking and listen a little bit more."

"I'll tell you what, you help me work on my work game and I'll help you work on your off-duty game."

"I don't know. I'm not good at that stuff. I'm not really big on hooking up. Oh, wow. Kenny's here," she said, looking over her shoulder.

"The station's two blocks away. They usually sit at the counter, but making mistakes is how you learn, right?" She smiled at Rachel and waved at him.

"Don't call him over here," Rachel said through gritted teeth. "I'm going to kill you."

"Jonah! Kenny!"

"Oh my god."

"At least I'll have two firemen to rescue me. Hey guys, what's up?" she asked, smiling up at them.

"Uh, breakfast. You want some company?" Kenny asked.

Rachel took a deep breath and looked up at him. "Yes."

"We're going to need another round," Kitty said to the waitress.

"Yeah, we're thirsty," Kenny said.

"Can I get a shot of tequila?" Rachel asked.

"Four shots of tequila," Kenny said.

Across town, Brody walked into a church where an AA meeting was about to happen. He reached for one of the last donuts and bumped hands with someone. "Oh. Sorry."

"Go for it," a laughing voice said.

Brody looked at her. "It's Annie, right?"

"Yeah, good memory," she said.

"Brody."

"Brody. Right."

"So that was you that I saw earlier at the hospital."

"Yeah," she said. "You should have said hi."

"Next time I will."

Back at the hospital, Santana and Sam were talking things over. "Why don't you take a few days off and come with me?" she asked. "I'll show you the best crab shack in Maryland. We can drive down to Ocean City, see Assateague Island."

"I've got my gym opening this week. I've got my life savings in that thing. You know that."

"Yeah, I know. We knew this was gonna be hard if I got in."

"Well, a few hours ago, I thought that would be next year. Not right now."

"So fly out after things settle down with the gym."

"If things settle down, I'm going belly up. I mean, it's just me doing it all right now. Maybe you could come back."

"I don't know," Santana said. "I gotta come out of the gates strong or I'm gonna get buried."

"The long distance thing never works out, huh? So that's it? We're just gonna rip the Band-Aid off?"

Santana leaned in and kissed him. "I'll see you later, Sam Evans." She got in her car and drove off, giving him one last smile.

"Goodbye, Santana," he said, standing in the middle of the parking lot.

Santana drove to Rachel's house and threw open the door. "Rach?" she called out, hoping her best friend was there.

"Ow," she heard Rachel say. She rounded the corner and smiled at Santana. "Hi! I saw your message! Congratulations, I knew you could do it!" Rachel walked over to Santana and threw her arms around her. "I'm so proud of you," she whispered.

"Rachel Berry, are you drunk?"

"A little tipsy. I had tequila earlier."

Santana smiled at her best friend. "So, I have some news. Besides me getting into Georgetown, I have to leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Rachel asked, the smile fading from her face. "You're leaving?" she asked, feeling tears come to her eyes. "Everyone's leaving me."

"Not everyone's leaving you."

"My baby died, then Finn left and now you're leaving," Rachel said as she started crying. "I'm not going to have anyone."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: The Way Back**

Outside of the hospital, Kurt sat in his car, talking to someone on the phone. "I may not be able to make it. Mom, I know it's your anniversary, but they may extend me until October. Well, it's a war. I don't control it," he said, trying not to get too frustrated. "I know. I gotta go. My commander just came in. We got casualties coming in. Okay, I love you too." He hung up his phone and put in headphones, trying to get him pumped up for his first shift back at the hospital and to drown out the guilt of lying to his mother.

He walked into the hospital, trying to ignore the looks that everyone was giving him. He felt someone clap his shoulder and he jumped, taking the headphones out of his ears. "I said, what are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"Working."

"I know that. I thought maybe you were going to take a week off and get settled back in."

"I've lost four months of my chief year. I'm not taking any more time off."

"Okay," Sam said. "Welcome back."

"Incoming!" Kitty said, hearing the ambulance sirens pulling into the ambulance bay.

"Who's that?"

"New intern. She's something else."

"What do we got?" Rachel asked, following Kitty outside.

"Wedding photo at Wedding Island gone wrong. Bride tripped over her heels bringing the groom with her into the river," Kenny said.

"I'm fine," the groom said, getting out of the ambulance. "Just help my wife."

"Let's get you inside and sitting, sir," Kitty said, leading him into the hospital. "It's easier if you don't fight us."

Kurt and Sam stepped outside. "Rachel." Kurt said.

Rachel turned around and smiled. "Kurt! Hey. We'll catch up later, okay?"

"This is the bride. Possible C-spine injury."

"My neck…really hurts."

"I know," Rachel said, shining light into her eyes. "My name's Dr. Berry and I'm going to take care of you. Can you tell me your name?"

"Crystal. Where's my husband?"

"He's already inside getting treated," Rachel said, listening to her heart. "Let's get you in there too. Kurt, we've got another one coming. Let me know if you need any help."

"I won't need any help."

One of the paramedics stepped around the ambulance and opened the door. "Here's the rest of the wedding party."

"I got a major emergency here," one of the groomsmen said. "Pete here has a broken heart from not getting to nail the hot bridesmaid."

Kurt frowned. "You think that's funny, you bunch of entitled ass wipes? People die here. They bleed on the ground you're standing on."

"Kurt, get the patient," the paramedic said.

"I'm with the doc," an older man said, getting out of the ambulance. "Bunch of frat boy assholes."

"This is Jorge. Father of the bride. He's got a head laceration and angulated wrist fracture."

"Otherwise known as an owie," Jorge said. "I'm fine, doc. How's my little girl doing?"

"Let's get you cleaned up first. Then we'll check on her."

Across town, Finn was helping Puck's mom out of his car when they pulled up to a casino. "Will there be any celebrities?"

"Of course, Mrs. Puckerman. You'll be here," Finn said.

"Thanks for being here and blowing off your date," Puck said.

"Oh, I didn't blow her off and it wasn't a date. Just going to meet her at her place later."

"My point is thanks for being my buffer. I just gotta show her a good time and then she leaves bright and early in the morning."

"No problem. I love your mom."

"You wouldn't be saying that if she came to stay with you for a month. It's almost over and I get my life back."

Puck and Finn opened both of the doors for Puck's mom so she could get a double door entrance. "This is so exciting," she said. "I love the fancy casinos in Atlantic City."

"Here, have a little fun on me," Puck said, taking some money out of his wallet. "Drink, gamble. Maybe you'll find another hot chick here tonight."

The opened the second set of doors and walked into the casino – only to find it filled with a bunch of elderly people. "Or maybe not," Puck said.

"This place is a dump, Noah. Why would you bring me here?"

"Just keep her busy," Puck said, handing Finn more money.

"I got you. Come on, Mrs. Puckerman. Let's go have some fun."

Back at the hospital, Rachel was doing an exam on Crystal. "Okay, does this hurt?"

"No."

"Okay. How about here?" Rachel asked, putting pressure on a different spot.

"A little."

"C, are you alright?" Eric asked, coming into the exam room.

"I'm fine."

"Sorry, he wouldn't sit still and wanted to be with his wife," Kitty said.

"It's okay. We're going to take her to CT to clear her cervical spine. Is there any news on the father?"

"Don't waste your breath on him," Crystal said. "He ruins everything. This is all his fault."

"It's a long story."

"It's the same story," Crystal said, cutting her husband off. "He says he's sober and he's not. My mother passed last year and I just wanted someone from my family at my wedding. I should've known better. And he – he…" she started gasping for breath.

"Crystal? Crystal?"

Crystal started shaking and Rachel and Kitty quickly put the hospital bed flat.

"Colle's fractured. Orthopod should get here in a few hours," Kurt said across the hall, wrapping Jorge's hand.

"I'm fine."

"Okay. Let's take a look at this cut here," Kurt said, turning his attention to the cut on Jorge's head.

"I heard the nurses talking. Army doc, huh? Where were you stationed?"

"This time in Bagram. I was a medic in Iraq, back when it was the Wild West."

"Those were the days. You ever do patrol on Al-Rashid Street between Shuhada?"

"And the Anhar Bridges. That crammed bazaar there, waiting any second for someone to hit an IED. That was the hairiest thing I've ever been through in my entire life. Where were you?"

"2003, I was chasing down Saddam. Back in 2004 and 2005. Then Kandahar in 2007 and 2009."

"Sounds like you should have bought some property."

"Everybody needs a good mud hut, right?" Jorge asked as Kurt starting stitching the cut on his forehead. "You married?"

"To another soldier."

"Smart man. My wife never did get it. World goes on without you, you know?"

"Yeah. I've got a friend back there that's missing her daughter's 13th birthday. It's all she can think about."

"I missed plenty of those. Recitals, dances, soccer games. Truth is, my daughter didn't even want me at her wedding."

"That sounds a little harsh."

"Yeah. Irony is that every time I was out there, every single time, I just thought of my daughter. She was the only thing that kept me going.

"You have to help her," Eric said as Rachel and Kitty were trying to figure out what was happening.

"Does she have a history of fainting?" Rachel asked.

"No. No way."

"Is it possible she's pregnant?

"I don't think so. She would have told me."

"Any drugs or alcohol?"

"No. Yeah, actually. She's taking anti-anxiety medicine for the wedding. She's so high strung and she was having bad dreams and nightmares."

"Can you tell me the names of the medications?"

"I don't know, I'm sorry."

"Okay, let's get her to CT."

"Can I go with her?" Eric asked as they started wheeling her out.

"Once she's conscious you can," Sam said. "But we have to take her for some scans, okay? We'll be back."

At the casino, Finn and Mrs. Puckerman were at one of the tables. "Five," the dealer said.

"No more underhand throws, old man," Mrs. Puckerman said.

"And no more lip, dollface," he said back to her. "Unless you want to plant them on mine."

"If you don't crap out, I'll do whatever you want with my eyes open."

"Who's this child?" the man asked, pointing to Finn. "This your boyfriend?"

"Maybe he is. Maybe he isn't."

"You just broke my heart."

"Maybe if you give him some love, he'll get back on roll," Finn whispered to her.

"Stop shooting blanks, old man. I'll give you my number if you roll me something good."

"Well now I've got incentive."

"Nope. No you don't. No you don't," Puck said, coming up to the table. "What's going on here? I take one phone call from Quinn and you're playing craps? What happened to bingo?"

"Your mother won't be kept down."

"Bingo is boring. Why would you bring me to a casino to play bingo?"

"Hey," the man said, trying to get her attention. "Look in my eyes," he said, tossing the dice."

"Hard 10," the dealer said.

"Yes!" he said, slumping over.

"Hey!" Puck called out. They got him down to the ground and checked his pulse. "It's pounding. 150s at least."

"Regular rhythm?"

"Probably SVT. He's unstable. We need to cardiovert."

"Grab the defibrillator off the wall," Finn said, pointing to where it was. They put the pads on him. "Ready?"

"Clear," Puck said, waiting for Finn to press the button. He looked at it and groaned. "No battery? Come on."

"I called the ambulance but they're coming from the city. It's gonna be at least half an hour," one of the workers said.

"Okay, Puck, he doesn't have that long."

"No. No he doesn't."

Back at the hospital, Rachel was walking towards the nurses' station. "Hey, Jocelyn, can you let me know when Crystal gets out of CT?"

"Of course."

"Thanks."

"So," Kitty said. "What's up with you and Fireman Kenny? His buddy Jonah tells me you two went out again. Your place or his?"

"Seriously, did we not just have this conversation?" Rachel said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "When we're at work, I'm your supervisor. Not your friend. I don't want to discuss my personal life here. If I do happen to tell you something personal off hours, I don't want you to discuss it here. I've been the topic of enough gossip to last me a lifetime."

"Got it."

"Yeah?"

"Nurse?" one of the groomsmen from earlier said to Kitty and Rachel. "Can I get a little help? My leg hurts."

"You know what?" Rachel said, trying to hold back laughter. "I'm gonna let you handle that one."

"Sure. After my next patient."

"Rachel," Kurt said, coming out of one of the exam rooms.

"Hey," Rachel said, giving him a hug. "I did not get to properly greet you earlier."

"Yeah, there was a lot going on. What's going on with Crystal? Her dad wants to know. He's been asking about her every two minutes and want to see her. I think it would do him some good. This whole wedding thing got him a little upset."

"I don't think that's a good idea right now."

"Why not?"

"Well, she made it pretty clear from her part that they're not that close and she feels like he ruined her wedding."

"Did he push her in the river?"

"I'm just saying that I don't think it's a good idea and that we shouldn't get involved. Why are you so upset by this?"

"Because I hate it when people don't respect what someone like him has been through."

"No one's saying that."

"He told me he missed a lot of things but he was at war defending his country. I think that's a pretty good excuse for missing a few softball games."

"I totally agree but from what she said it's more to do with him being an alcoholic."

"Yeah, I wonder if five tours has anything to do with that."

"Okay, look, Kurt. You just got back. You're a little raw."

"That's not what this is about. I'm speaking up for my patient."

"And I'm speaking up for mine. She's high strung, she's fainting. Please let me fix my patient before we decide to resolve any of the family issues. For now, we'll have to agree to disagree."

"You'd think that after everything you went through with Finn you'd be on that guy's side."

Rachel stared at Kurt and watched him walk off. She took a deep breath and walked to the locker rooms, where she pulled out her phone. She clicked on her voicemail and pulled up the one from Finn that he left when she had the stroke. "Hey, Rach, it's me," Finn's voice said through the phone. "Thanks for sending me the video. Man, I wish I was there to see the baby. Let him know I'll never leave him again. I love you, Rach, and I'll be home soon."

Rachel sniffed and put her phone back in her locker. She wiped away the tears that had started falling, took a deep breath and walked back out to the corridor.

Back at the casino, Finn and Puck weren't having much luck. "I checked all four AEDs. All were missing their batteries. I found an AMP bag."

"Puck, his pulse is getting weaker. We need to get him back in sinus ASAP."

"What about cold water immersion? Stimulate his diving reflex."

"Got it," Finn said, getting up. He saw the trays with glasses on them and took the bottom two that were stacked and filled them with ice water.

"Let's make some room," Puck said.

Finn came up and had someone hold the bucket of ice water. He sat down and helped Puck lift the man's head so they could put it in the water. His eyes immediately opened and he gasped for air. "Pulse is back to normal," Finn said.

"Amazing. Finn saved him," Mrs. Puckerman said. "That was amazing."

"It was all Puck's ides, Mrs. Puckerman," Finn said. "I was just the busboy."

"You're too modest, Dr. Hudson."

Back at the hospital, Sam was talking with Brody. "We'll get you training with Puck. A little cycling and we'll get you right on schedule."

"Hey, one other thing," Brody said. "I know you guys like teasing Artie. And I get that. But I would really appreciate it if you toned it down just a little bit. I just don't want it affecting his work."

"No problem. I'll spread the word." He turned around and started walking down one of the hallways, seeing Artie standing there. "Oh. Hey bro. How're you doing?"

"Great. What were you talking about with Brody?"

"He wants me to train him and get him back in shape. You know, chicks love the abs."

"So he wasn't saying anything about me? And before you answer, I will remind you that I have the hearing of an elephant."

"Okay. He asked us to stop messing with you. I said we would."

"He didn't need to do that. Makes me look bad, like I can't take care of myself, you know?"

"Tell him, not me."

Back at the casino, paramedics were getting the man loaded onto the ambulance. "Hey, Finn," Puck said, coming out of the casino.

"I'm telling you, she loves you, you love casinos."

"Puck, if you leave now, she will never let you hear the end of it."

"Yeah, that's true."

"She's getting up there, man. You complain, but what if it's her last visit?"

"Hey, my mom is going to outlive me."

"You know, I said the same thing about my mom. And you know when I got to tell her how much she meant to me? Over a respirator on her coma bed. Maybe she heard it. Maybe she didn't."

"Time to go, guys."

"You go," Puck said, sighing. "I'll stay."

"Worst case, get drunk and call an Uber," Finn said, climbing into the ambulance.

Back at the hospital, Artie was talking to Brody. "I've had enough people in my life trying to fix things for me. I'm tired of it."

"I get that," Brody said. "But do you see my point? I need the ER and the surgical departments to work well together. And if they don't respect you…"

"They will. Look, I'm not the rah-rah guy. I'm the lead by example guy. They will follow me. It might just take a little bit longer. Maybe it's not your way or Finn's way but, you know, I can do it my way."

"Okay. Let's see how that goes."

Kitty drew the curtains on the groomsman's exam room. "So what's up?"

"It's just, um, something wrong right here," he said, pointing to his groin as the other groomsmen started laughing. "It hurts, so you might need to examine it."

"Okay. Well, let me take a look. Drop your pants. Let's see it."

"See it?"

"Yes. It. Your penis. That's clearly what you're hinting at, right?"

"I'm just letting you know that my leg…"

"Oh, come on. You started this joke. Let's see it through. Let's see how big you are," Kitty said. "My guess is you're an inch worm. Big mouth guys usually are."

"Everything okay in here?" Sam asked, pulling open the curtain.

"Yeah. I think we're good here. Right guys? You all learned a valuable lesson about wasting a doctor's time, right? You, hipster dude, give me your phone. I know you were taking a picture. You're lucky I don't break this. Oh nice," Kitty said, stopping on a picture. "Crop shot. Delete." She looked at another picture and frowned. "Holy…"

She walked over to where Rachel was standing and started showing her the pictures. "This is one right before she tripped. Look, zoom in and you can already see her eyes rolling back into her head."

"She didn't trip; she fainted. Nice find."

"So, what does that mean?" Crystal asked.

"Well, I'm going to have radiology read your scan right away so we can figure this out. But for now, I'm going to have Dr. Wilde stay with you, okay?"

"I can't get over calling you Dr. Wilde," Crystal said. "You look like my age."

"Well, I can't get over the fact that you're my age and married."

"It just made sense, I guess. You got anyone special?"

"You mean someone I swiped right on? Nah. Marriage is the last thing on my mind."

"Well, that may change when you meet the right person."

"I don't have time for the right person. I come from a small town. Like, a really small town. They paid for my med school and they're sort of depending on me so I don't have time for someone special in my schedule until, say, 2025."

Across the hospital, Sam was talking with Jorge. "I know what you're saying. You think I'm drunk, right? I'm not good enough?"

"Nobody's saying that."

"Everybody said it! I heard them at the wedding."

"Your labs came back clean. I can tell you didn't drink. I'll tell them that. It'll be fine."

"Jorge," Kurt said. "What's happening?"

"Get away from me! Get back," he said, grabbing a scalpel.

"Everybody back up," Kurt said. "What happened?" he asked, turning to Sam.

"No idea. He just went crazy."

"Drop the scalpel and let us help you," Kurt said.

"Get them away!"

"Drop the scalpel," Kurt said as Jorge started crying. "Talk to us. What's going on?"

"Do you see them? Take them out of me!"

"Jorge, we will."

"I got this," Sam whispered, lunging towards him.

"No, no, no," Kurt said as Sam got pushed to the ground.

Kurt grabbed Jorge's hand with the scalpel in it and got it out of his hands. "Grab some restraints." Someone got him a gurney with restraints on them and helped Kurt get him onto the bed. "Okay, he's fully sedated. Let's get him to trauma three," Kurt said as Kitty was bringing Crystal back to her room.

"What did he do now?"

"He started another fight?" Eric asked.

"No, he didn't start a fight. He wasn't himself," Kurt snapped.

"What?"

"Your father's hurting right now, okay? You should reach out to him. He needs you?"

"He needs me? He wasn't there for me when I needed him."

"And who are you?"

"Okay," Rachel said, stepping in between them. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked Kurt.

"I was just explaining her father's situation."

"No, you were lobbying for him and you need to back off."

"I don't feel very well," Crystal said, gasping for air.

"She's out again," Rachel said, taking off her stethoscope to listen to Crystal's heart. She's in v-tach. We need a crash cart."

In one of the trauma rooms, Artie was helping Sam. "I can't believe you rushed a guy with a scalpel."

"I don't know, man. I just reacted."

"I know. I mean, that's what I thought last year at the accident. Almost cost me my career."

"Yeah, but look at you now. Gonna be a badass surgeon like your dad. I'm proud of you, man."

"Was this part of Brody's request or something?"

"No, I'm being serious. When you first got here, man, you were like a scared little mouse. You'd sweat, your voice would crack."

"That's your compliment?" Artie asked, smiling.

"Yeah, that's my compliment. I'm saying how far you've come."

"Thanks, man. That really means a lot. You saying…"

"Come on, don't get all emotional on me now."

"I'm not. I'm just…with my hand surgery and the rehab…this is all I've dreamed about since I was five. I guess you don't know how much you really want something until you almost lose it, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. I figured I'd be finishing up my NFL career by now. But here I am."

"But you love being a nurse."

"I do. But it wasn't my dream since I was five."

"Please," Jorge said as they were wheeling him to his trauma room. "Please, you gotta help me. Doc, you gotta help me."

"You called for a trauma consult?" Brody asked.

"Yeah, blunt head trauma with worsening mental state. May have sustained a brain bleed or a concussion. We're gonna get him to CT."

"I don't feel good," Jorge said, struggling against the restraints.

"You gotta relax, Jorge, okay?" Kurt said, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't you touch me. Don't touch me," he said, coughing up blood.

"Type and cross for four. Page GI. Let's go," Brody said.

In Crystal's room, Rachel and Kitty were going over the CT results. "Her EKG is totally normal. It shouldn't be but it is."

"You needed a cardiac surgery consult?" Artie asked, walking into the trauma room.

"Yeah. Where's Brody?" Rachel said.

"He's busy. He sent me." He saw the look on Rachel's face. "Dr. Berry?"

"Okay. We're dealing with a seemingly healthy young female. She fainted twice, went into v-tach, but now her EKG looks normal."

Artie looked at the scans. "I agree. Any other symptoms?"

"Anxiety. Probably pre-existing. I have a list of anti-anxiety medications she's on."

"Her husband mentioned she's been having nightmares," Kitty said.

Artie thought to himself for a second. "Nightmares? Trouble sleeping?"

"You have an idea?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, I do."

Puck was sitting with his mom at a Chinese restaurant, where he was drinking a cup of coffee. "So, Mom, you have everything you need for your trip tomorrow?"

"Is that all you're thinking about? Getting rid of me?"

Puck started laughing. "No. Beth and the twins really loved having you here."

"That's because kids respond to discipline. Not that Quinn would know."

"Stop! Why do you have to be so critical about my wife? About my kids? About me? I'm the one who found the save for the old man. I'm the hero!"

"Stop yelling. It makes your face turn red."

"There you go again. Why are you like that?"

"You're so content to just be. You're my son. You're supposed to be better."

"Better? I'm a doctor. I'm the chief of the ER at a major trauma center. I was an Army ranger. I have not one, but three beautiful, intelligent daughters and an incredible wife, who, I'm telling you, finds you as aggravating as I do."

"How can you say that to your mother? I raised you."

"You terrorized me. And you're still doing it. Nothing is ever good enough for you. I can't win. I'm not gonna take it anymore. I mean, seriously, what did you ever do with your life?"

Puck's mom started crying and she got up and left the table.

Back at the hospital, Finn was bringing in guy from the casino. "Hey," Sam said, meeting up with him. "I thought you had the night off."

"Yeah, so did I. Then an elderly patient with hypotension, SVT converted on scene. Gotta get him to the cath lab stat."

"Okay, I'll get somebody to—"

"Hey, I got this. You ever known me to pass off a patient?" Finn said. "Nice to meet you Kenny."

"See you around."

In one of the trauma rooms, Brody was looking into Jorge's eyes. "So, when was the last time you had a drink?"

"I don't drink."

"Dr. Hummel said that your blood alcohol test did come back negative but I'm going to ask you again. When was the last time you had a drink?"

"You puked up blood Jorge," Kurt said. "You know why? Because you got ruptured varicose veins in your esophagus. It's the result of drinking. A lot of drinking."

"Your shaking, your paranoia, your delusions, these are all symptoms of delirium tremens, which is a severe form of alcohol withdrawal."

"I'm sober."

"We're trying to help you. Just tell us the truth," Kurt said.

Jorge sighed. "I wanted to be clean for her wedding. I thought I could do it. The last drink I had was on the plane. I swear."

"Okay," Brody said. "That's good. Admitting it is a good start."

"You can't stop like that again," Kurt said. "You saw what happens. Next time, it could be worse."

"My daughter…she saw me getting restrained, didn't she?"

"Yeah," Kurt said.

"Could one of you ask if I could see her for minute?"

"Of course," Brody said.

Back at the restaurant, Puck was trying to find his mother. "Hello?" he said, walking into a bathroom with his eyes closed. "I'm a man, I'm a doctor and I'm looking for my mother. I'm coming in," he said, opening his eyes. He saw his mom standing at the sink, wiping at her eyes with a paper towel. "Mom, I'm really sorry. I don't know why I said that stuff."

"I wasn't always nothing, you know."

"I know. You worked your ass off at those restaurants. I should be more grateful."

His mom turned around to face him. "I was an engineer."

"What?"

"Yes. I went to school at one of the best engineering schools before you were born to be an engineer."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. But then we moved. And then your father died. And I had to give it all up to work at that crappy restaurant just to keep you and your sister alive. Do you think I liked that? Who knows what I could have done."

"Why didn't you tell me that before, Mom?"

"Because…it was my job to make sure you were given every opportunity to do great things. The things that I couldn't do. And you did them. And I am proud of you."

"Can I…can I hug you? I know it's weird and we don't really do that."

Puck's mom sniffed and wrapped her arms around her son as they both cried.

Back at the hospital, Rachel was talking to Crystal in her room. "Crystal, you have something called Brugada Syndrome. It explains why you're fainting and why your heart almost stopped."

"It was the nightmares that tipped me off," Artie said. "It's a symptom."

"It's an electrical problem in your heart that could cause sudden cardiac death if not treated," Brody said.

"So what do we do? Is there a cure?" Crystal asked.

"Yes. We treat it with an implantable defibrillator."

"You have to attach this to my heart? Is there another way?"

"I'm afraid there isn't. And if we don't do this, you could go into cardiac arrest at any time," Brody said.

"Also, I think you should know that there's a genetic component to Brugada Syndrome," Rachel said. "It's inherited. And your father has the condition as well. Crystal, I know you're hurting and you're scared. But your father is too. And he would really like to see you."

"Yeah? Well too bad. On top of being a drunk and ruining my past, my dad's also ruined my future. I never want to see him again."

A little while later, Rachel was in the break room, staring at the lone sandwich in the machine, contemplating everything.

Finn walked by and opened the door. "Hey. I wouldn't jump on that tuna sandwich. It's been in there since Bush was president."

"That's gross," she said, giving him a small smile.

"Yeah. I hear your night of fun and debauchery got cut short."

"Nothing says debauchery like a casino full of 80-year-olds with air tanks and walkers. Poor Puck. His mom is really driving him crazy."

"She still on his case?"

"Nonstop. How's the bride doing?"

"Well, she's on her way to the OR instead of her honeymoon."

"That's a big change of plans," Finn said.

"For better or for worse, right?"

"See, that's where we were smart. We spread our worst out over eight years."

"Yeah, we did. But there was a lot of good too."

"I really do want you to be happy."

"I want the same for you," Rachel said, swallowing thickly.

The door opened and Sam walked in. "Cardiology called. The old guy only wants the doc that dunked him in the water."

"Okay. I'll be right there," Finn said, turning to look at Sam, giving Rachel the opportunity to wipe away the tear that was falling.

"I'm not even going to ask," she said.

"Yeah, I wouldn't. Okay, one tuna sandwich," he said, fishing money out of his pocket.

"You're not really going to buy that are you?"

"No, I was making sure no one else does."

Rachel dramatically rolled her eyes and gave Finn another small smile as she left the break room. Finn watched her walk out and sighed. He grabbed his sandwich and ate it while he was on the way to the man's room. "How are you feeling?" he asked, sitting down in a chair next to his bed.

"Just tell me how I'm doing. Don't be a pussy. Spit it out."

"You're going to need open heart surgery."

"Let's do it."

"The problem is that your heart stopped twice during the cath procedure. You need the operation but you're probably not gonna survive it. You got any friends or family that I can call?"

"All my friends are dead. Family…I never had one. I was too busy trying to get laid." He looked at the expression of Finn's face. "Don't look at me like that. When I was your age, I was better looking than you and I could kick your ass with my eyes closed."

"I believe it."

"Oh man. Holy cow. You stay for awhile?"

"Sure. I'll stay as long as you want."

In the hallway, Kurt was taking Jorge back for surgery when Crystal got there. "Doctor, hold on. Can I talk to him?"

"He's already sedated for surgery. Sorry," Kurt said.

"Oh." She watched as one of the nurses took him to the OR. "He looks so small. So worn." She looked up at Kurt. "You think I'm a terrible person, don't you? For not wanting to speak to him?"

"I think I have no right to judge anybody on anything."

A few hours later, Kurt was watching as Brody performed surgery on Jorge. Rachel spotted him watching the surgery and came up to him. "Hey. How's Jorge?"

"Not great."

"Kurt, I'm really sorry about earlier. I wasn't as sensitive to you as I should've been."

"No I – you were just trying to help."

"Yeah, but I mean, you just got back and—"

"Rachel, I know the hell you went through with Finn when he first came back. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Forget it."

"This wasn't about me coming back too soon. This case just brought up stuff that I didn't want to admit to."

"Like what?"

"I haven't told my parents I'm back. It's their 40th anniversary. I'm supposed to go. But I can't because I'm too scared to tell them that Blaine and I got married."

"But they know you're out, right?"

"Yeah. Growing up, my dad and I used to be best friends. We watched games together, went to games together, we played every sport. We did everything together. And then when I came out to him, it's like he couldn't talk to me anymore."

"Honey, I'm so sorry."

"It's the same Steelers game, right? I mean, what's the difference? But to him, it had all changed. So I figure if I don't say anything maybe for a year or two, you know, maybe there's a glimmer of hope. Even if it's just one percent that he'll change and things can go back to the way they used to be."

"Kurt, you know, your dad – he's getting older. And how are you going to feel if you don't get the chance to talk to him? Because I know how it feels."

Kurt opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the sound of the monitor flatlining. "He's crashing," Artie said from inside the OR.

"Get the crash cart now," Brody said.

Towards the end of the shift, Kenny caught up with Rachel and they were talking. "Look, I don't care if you dated Finn or Dr. Weston. Believe it or not, I may have dated other women before I went out with you."

"I'm just saying that some guys have a hard time working with other guys that have dated the woman that they may or may not be interested in."

"Well, I'm not like those other guys."

"That's good," Rachel said smiling.

"And I'm definitely interested in a woman they may have dated. In fact, I'd love to make her a gourmet breakfast this morning."

"Oh, a gourmet breakfast. How many times have you used that line?"

"This is the first time. I swear. So, what do you say? Truffle omelet at my place around nine?"

"Why don't you make it around 8:45?" Rachel said, leaning in to kiss him.

At the nurses' station, Mrs. Puckerman was entertaining the nurses about stories from Puck's childhood. "He was always the best at everything."

"You brought your mom," Finn said, walking over to stand next to Puck. "You've been avoiding that all month."

"What the hell? Let her brag about her boy. I have to say, it all turned out pretty damn good. We had a conversation. I mean, I'm still glad she's leaving, but that conversation opened up a whole new side of our relationship. By the way, how's the old man?"

"Clive? He's all patched up. He'll probably be back in the casino in a week. And in the cemetery in three to six months."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. He had an amazing life. He gets to go out the way he wants. That's all we can ask for, right?"

"The shift's about to end guys," Mollie said. "Remember what we talked about? Ethey artypay orfay urtkay."

"What did she say?" Puck asked.

"I have no idea," Finn said.

"The welcome home party for Kurt. Let's go," Mollie said.

"Why didn't you just say that?" Finn asked.

In Crystal's room, Rachel was giving her an update. "It took us a little bit longer than expected, but your surgery went well and you should be feeling like yourself in no time."

"So the nightmare wedding saved your life," Eric said.

"See? I knew I was right marrying you," Crystal said, smiling at him. "How was my dad's surgery?"

"The surgeons got into his heart and the years of alcohol had already destroyed it. He's gone," Kurt said.

"I'm so sorry, Crystal," Rachel said as she started crying.

Kurt went outside and stood by his truck, trying to clear his thoughts. He reached into his pocket and called his dad. "Dad, hey. Yeah, it's me. Yeah, no. I know. I just wanted to…right. Dad, just…I just called because there's something I need to tell you."

A few minutes later, he walked dejectedly back into the hospital. "Kurt?" Rachel asked, seeing the look on his face. "Kurt? Hey."

"I called my dad."

"Okay," Rachel nodded. "How'd it go?" She saw his face crumple. "Oh sweetie," she said, rubbing his arm. "It's okay. Come on," she said, opening the door to the break room.

"Surprise!" the staff said as Artie walked into the lounge.

"Sorry. I was running late. Where's Kurt?" Artie asked.

"Who knows? But I'm starving so I'm not waiting," Puck said. "But first, I'd like to make a toast to my mom. Thank you for reminding me what it takes to be a great parent, dedication to your family and putting them above all else. To you, Mom," he said, raising a plastic cup.

"Mama Puck," Finn said. "Speech."

"Okay. Well," she said, standing up. "I've always known that Noah was the best and brightest. But to hear it from his colleagues, it just helps me know that I've made the right decision. I'm so proud of my son that I'm coming to live with him permanently," she said, smiling as Puck's face dropped.

Finn walked over to where Puck was standing, trying to hold back his laughter. "Son of a bitch," Puck said. "She planned it."

"Yeah."

"She did it in front of everyone because she knew I couldn't refuse."

"She used all of us as a buffer," Finn said.

"She played me."

"Nice catch tonight, Artie," Brody said, coming up to him. "Like you said, you're a leader by example."

Rachel and Kurt walked into the surprise party and Rachel cleared her throat so they'd know the guest of honor had arrived.

"Surprise!" everyone yelled and cheered.

"I'd like to propose a toast," Rachel said, filling up a cup. "To having our family back together again. Cheers," she said, making eye contact with Finn.

"Thank you," Kurt said. "You have no idea how much I needed this. So thank you so much."

Finn walked over and gave Kurt a hug. "Glad you made it back in one piece, man."

"I heard you have a date later tonight," Kurt said to Finn, causing Rachel's ears to perk up a bit.

Maybe she didn't have to worry about how Finn would react to her dating Kenny.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Get Busy Living**

"It's your first paramedic ride along, so be chill," one of the paramedics said to Kitty when they got on the scene of a college party.

"I'm not so good with the chill. Hey, affluenza," she said to someone who got in her way. "Get out of my way. What do we got?" she asked once of the people standing there.

"I was at the party upstairs and I found him out here when I came down."

"Did he take something?"

"I don't know. Probably. It's a party."

"He probably OD'ed," the paramedic said. "Give him a shot of Narcan."

"I know. I got it," Kitty said, rolling up the guy's shirt sleeve. They waited a few seconds to see how he responded to it. "Guess it's not opiates."

"He's got minimal respirations."

"We better intubate or he won't make it back." Kitty looked up and saw everyone standing around. "Back these idiots up. It's not a sideshow."

"Come on, guys, back up. You heard her," the other paramedic said. "Back up!"

"Stats are holding."

"Run in a liter wide open."

"I'll check the blood sugar."

Kitty nodded and she heard a thump and people started screaming.

"I've got him," the paramedic said. "Go."

She nodded and started running over to where the sound of the thump came from. She came up to a girl, lying face down on the pavement and people crowded around her. "What happened?"

"She fell from up there," a girl said, pointing at the balcony above them.

"I'm gonna need some back up," Kitty said, looking at how high the balcony was.

Across town at the hospital, Finn was coming out of a trauma room with an exhausted look on his face. "I stopped the bleeding. Finally. I've almost lost two patients this week who wouldn't clot because of that damn medication."

"Blood thinners?" Puck asked.

"Yeah. But not warfarin. It's this new one that these drug companies market out to people before there's an antidote. Anyway, I sutured the laceration, so he should be ready for surgery now."

"Okay, I already paged Brody."

"Okay," Finn said, pulling off his scrub top that had blood all over it.

"What are you doing?" Puck asked. "You can't do that right here in the middle of the ER."

"I just do it to piss you off."

"Well, nobody wants to see that."

"Speak for yourself, Puck," Nurse Mollie said. Finn smiled and blew her a kiss.

"It's the pros from Dover," Puck said when Brody and Artie walked up to the nurses' station. "You have a lacerated spleen in trauma one ready for surgery."

"It probably needs to come out," Finn said.

"Artie, get him prepped in OR one. I'm right behind you. We'll go over the PowerPoint later."

"On it," Artie said, going towards the trauma room.

"PowerPoint?" Puck asked.

"Yeah. I've been hounding the folks at Pressler Pharmaceuticals for months to get them to choose us for one of their studies," Brody said. "They've got this high-tech transcatheter valve that gets patients in and out of the hospital in like, half the time."

"So what's the holdup?" Finn asked.

"They're only giving samples valves to four hospitals nationwide. That means that we all have to bend over and grab out ankles just to get a meeting."

"Sounds like a hell of a meeting," someone said, coming up to the nurses' station. "Hi. You must be Dr. Weston. I'm Jessica Sanders. Pressler rep," she said, holding out her hand for Brody to shake.

"Hi," Brody said, feeling embarrassed that she probably heard what he just said.

"Don't worry. I won't make you grab your ankles."

"Sorry about that. I thought you were coming tomorrow."

"Change of plans. I have to fly out to Denver tomorrow so I decided to pop by tonight to check out your application."

"Well, I've gotta get up to surgery right now."

"No worries. I'll be here when you're ready. I'll just hang out with Dr. Puckerman and Dr.—"

"Hudson," Finn said.

"Have we met?" Puck asked, crinkling his nose.

"No. You'd remember. But you're just the man I want to talk to."

Finn heard his pager go off. "I just got paged. I'm gonna go change in the locker room. Nice to meet you."

"Maybe we'll see each other again," Jessica said, smiling at him. She turned her attention to Puck. "So. Dr. Puckerman. Who do I have to sleep with to get San Antonio Memorial to switch to our drugs exclusively?"

"Well, technically…"

"Oh. I'm kidding. I'm totally kidding. It's a joke. But I'd love the contract, so can we talk business?"

Across the hospital, Rachel walked into an exam room. "Hannah?" she asked, looking up from the chart. "Hi, I'm Dr. Berry. So, I hear that you came in with a fever."

"That's what they told me over at the infusion center. Cancer. That's where I go for chemo. The doctor said I spiked a fever and referred me to the ER."

Rachel took her temperature. "It still looks a little high. Can you lay down for me?" Rachel pulled her shirt up slightly and saw a scar on her stomach. "You recently had surgery?"

"About three weeks ago. Second time under the knife. They went in to remove some tumors that metastasized to my liver."

"Any pain or soreness when I press?" Rachel asked.

"Nope."

"Well, I'd like to give you some Tylenol to bring the fever down but I also want to run a full septic work up."

"And a CT to look for post-op abscess?" Hannah saw the surprised look on Rachel's face. "I've been going through this for awhile now. I practically live in hospitals I hate these places. The smells, the sterile walls, the hum of the fluorescent lights."

"Good point," Rachel said, laughing a little. "You know what. I'm outta here."

"Sorry," Hannah said. "I didn't mean to crap on your workplace."

"Honey, please. Last month, we had a guy in here who literally crapped on the place."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. It's the glamour of medicine."

"Run your tests. But, for your information, I'm not eating the cafeteria food."

"I don't either. Okay," Rachel said, taking off her stethoscope. "Let's listen to your heart. Those are pretty necklaces."

"Thanks."

Back at the party, people were calling over Finn to help Kitty with the girl who fell from the balcony. "What do we got?"

"Dumb, drunk, rich college kids. That's what I've got," Kitty said. "She fell from a four-story balcony. I didn't want to move her."

"How's her pressure?"

"90 systolic. She's unresponsive."

"Alina?" someone said. "Oh my god!"

"Is this your friend?" Finn asked.

"She's my roommate. What happened to her?"

"I should ask you that," Kitty said.

"I don't know. She was at a party and called me and told me to get here."

"Pelvis feels unstable," Kitty said to Finn.

"We'll stabilize it with a pelvic binder."

"Can she hear me?"

"I don't know. Keep going with the trauma survey," Finn said to Kitty. "She may have other injuries."

"Her mom is going to freak."

Kitty started cutting her jeans and pulled them apart, revealing a compound fracture in her knee. "Whoa."

"We gotta get her back to the ER now. Hurry up with that backboard!" Finn called out.

"On my count," the paramedic from earlier said. "One, two, three."

Back at the hospital, Hannah was getting her CT done. "So, it looks like there is an abscess in your abdomen and that's what's causing the fever," Rachel said. "We're gonna get you down to IR and they can have it drained for you."

"More procedures? Can't I just go home?"

"Not without taking care of this. Or the infection could get worse."

"I just can't be in the OR again, staring up at people in masks."

"Okay," Rachel said, thinking to herself. "I can drain it myself in the ER using an ultrasound. That'll be quicker anyway."

"Thank you. I just wanna feel good enough to get down to Mexico."

"What's in Mexico?"

"I rented a house on the Pacific Ocean. It's this little town on the beach named Zihuatanejo. It's from—"

"The Shawshank Redemption."

"Oh, a fellow Shawshanker."

"I love that movie. That's the town they meet up in after he escapes from prison."

"Hey. Spoiler alert," the technician said.

"Dude, that movie is 20 years old. If you haven't seen it yet, I doubt you ever will," Rachel said.

"But you should. It's one of the best," Hannah said.

"Better than Fast and Furious 7?"

"Yes," they said at the same time.

"Shawshank is kind of my inspiration. Like they say in the movie, better get busy living or get busy dying. That's what I'm ready to do."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm done with surgeries and done with chemo. I have a DNR. I've made my peace. It's time to get busy dying."

Across town, Kurt and Sam were in Kurt's truck driving. "I don't know. You tell me," Sam said to whoever he was talking to. "I asked you first. Oh, I can absolutely come over later tonight. Oh my god, you're so bad," Sam said, causing Kurt to make a face. "Why are you so bad? Oh my god. Maybe around 10? Kurt and I have this errand we gotta run. Okay. I'll see you later."

"Who was that, Barry White?" Kurt asked, glad he didn't have to listen to Sam anymore.

"Come on, man. You know I don't kiss and tell."

"Since when?"

"You know…"

"That probably means I know her. Who was it?"

"I didn't say you knew her."

"So I don't know her. Is that what you're saying?"

"I think you took a wrong turn," Sam said. "Where are we?"

"We gotta take a little detour first. I have to drop off Syd's daughter at her jiu-jitsu tournament."

"No! We gotta meet the Craigslist dude for the gym equipment in 30 minutes or he's gonna sell it to someone else."

"It's going to take 20 minutes. There's nothing I can do about it. Syd sent me an emergency text like an hour ago saying I had to take her. Apparently, the grandmother doesn't drive…do you want to hear the rest of the story?"

"I didn't want to hear the beginning of it. I just want to pick up the gym equipment. That's all. That's all I wanna do."

"Who were you talking to?" Kurt asked again.

"I'm so mad at you right now."

Back at the hospital, Rachel was draining Hannah's abscess. "See, that wasn't so bad. Was it? Anyway, there's this pharma company here tonight and they're doing experimental drug trials."

"No thanks."

"You didn't even hear me out."

"I don't need to. The last thing I want is another regiment of drugs with unknown side effects."

"Come on, Hannah. You're still laughing and full of life. Why are you giving up?"

"I'm not giving up. I have accepted my fate."

"You don't know your fate. No one does," Rachel said. "I had this college friend and she refused to accept her fate. She fought it. And she ended up living for another three years. I mean, she _really_ lived. She saw her niece born, spent two birthdays with her. She traveled with friends and family. She went to the Great Wall of China."

"That's a really nice story. But I have a story too. I watched my mother wither away and die from breast cancer and I fought for her to try everything. In the end, she suffered through treatment after treatment to prolong what? Pain and suffering."

"Well, we've made a lot of advances in the past few years and there are some promising drugs. There's maybe something that you don't even know about. There's gotta be someone to fight for you."

"I'm an only child. There isn't anyone in my life. I spent my 20s going to school and my 30s taking care of my mother. There wasn't a lot of time for dating. And now, a Tinder profile of cancer, tired all the time, some vomiting, ain't gonna get me swiped. So, like I said, I've made my peace. I'm ready to go."

"Okay," Rachel said, sighing. "I'm going to go check your labs. So hang in there, okay?"

Across the hospital, Artie and Brody were coming out of surgery. "Thank you."

Jessica heard him and looked up from where she was sitting. "That was fast. Color me impressed."

"Have you been waiting out here the whole time?"

"Dr. Puckerman got busy and I needed a quiet place to work, so…" she trailed off and looked at Artie. "Hi. I'm Jessica."

"Hi. Artie Abrams."

"She's from Pressler. A day early," Brody said.

"Oh. Yeah. So, our surgical program performs over 50 mitral valve procedures per year, which is above or on par with—"

"Artie, it's okay. We're not doing that now," Brody said. "I get the idea that Jessica here is more about the deal than the presentation. So, what do we need to do it make this deal happen for us? Because you guys have been jerking us around for months and that's time that a lot of my heart patients don't have."

"I love the direct approach," Jessica said. "This is off the record, but I want your ER to give our company an exclusive contract."

"You want us to only offer your company's drugs to your patients?" Artie asked.

"Yes. I'll settle for making us your primary supplier. The profit will pay for the heart valve study."

"Well, you'll have to convince a majority of our ER attendings to sign on. That all starts with Dr. Puckerman."

"I'm supposed to give him my pitch when his schedule clears. He doesn't really seem that motivated to change, though. I guess I'll have to motivate him."

"Uh, he's married," Artie said.

Brody and Jessica both gave him a look. "Actually, he is married. And he's got a teenage daughter and three-year-old twins and his mother just moved in with him. The guy is bone tired and frazzled. Can you say conference?"

"I like how you think, doctor. Okay. I can work with that," Jessica said.

In the lobby, the paramedics were bringing in the first patient from the party. "Suspected OD. No response to Narcan. Pulse is weak."

"Let's get him into trauma two. Where's Finn and Kitty?"

"With the girl that fell from the balcony. They're coming in."

"Heather, send off a tox screen," Puck said.

Heather nodded and went to the nurses' station to call it in. "Hey, Heather. Where's Puck?" Brody asked, coming over with Jessica following behind him.

"He just stepped into trauma two with a patient."

Brody sighed and looked over towards the doors, seeing Annie talking to one of the nurses. "Excuse me one minute," he said, walking over to where Annie was standing. "Annie? You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I brought Finn some tacos from La Gloria. I've barely seen him all week and I thought he could use the extra fuel."

"Since he's not here right now, do you mind if I…"

"Sure. Take them. It'll be our secret."

"No, I'm good. Thanks, though."

"It's good seeing you outside a meeting."

"You too. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm good. I'm just trying to keep busy. Are you going to the meeting tomorrow?"

"I'm going if you're going. You bringing the tacos?"

"They always run out of donuts."

"Incoming!" Finn yelled.

"I gotta run," Brody said.

"Patient fell four stories," Finn said. "Unstable pelvis, open tibia fracture."

"Okay, trauma one," Brody said. "Artie, you're with us."

Finn turned around and saw Annie standing there. "Annie? What are you doing here?"

"I'm fine. I just brought you a snack. We'll talk later. Go."

"Okay," Finn said, feeling slightly confused.

"Finn," Kitty said, coming into the hospital, "I'm gonna go check on the OD."

Kitty walked into the room as he was flatlining. "What happened?"

"He coded when we got him to the room," Puck said. "He's been gone for 10 minutes. He's gotten epi, amiodarone and we've shocked him a few times. Let's go one more time. Clear," he said. Puck shocked him and got Kitty on a secondary hit by mistake. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, starting to get up. "I just…I got too close. Sorry."

"Stop CPR." Puck checked for a pulse. "Time of death, 8:24 p.m."

Across the hospital, Alina wasn't doing so well. "Breathe," Brody said. "Let's get sterile gauze on that. Somebody page ortho."

"Alina, I'm Dr. Hudson. You suffered a full. We're taking care of you."

"It hurts."

"I know. We're going to give you something for the pain. Nurse, push the morphine."

"BP's getting low," Artie said.

"Fracture probably tore an artery in her pelvis. Have you called up to IR?"

The monitor started beeping like crazy and Brody sighed. "There's no time for that. Let's get her up to surgery. Let's go," he said. They brought the railings on the bed up and rushed her to the elevators to get her to the OR.

"Alina!" her roommate said, running after them.

"We need to get her upstairs."

"I'm so sorry," Alina said, taking off her oxygen mask.

"It's okay. It's not your fault."

"Yes it is. I jumped. I tried to kill myself. I'm sorry," Alina said as they got her into the elevator.

"I don't get it. I never saw her unhappy. I never thought she'd try to kill herself."

"Well, sometimes it's hard to tell the people closest to you. You never really know what someone's going through."

"I would know, though. She's my best friend. It just doesn't make sense."

"I'm sorry. But they're going to take good care of her. Is there any family that we can contact?"

"She's from Delaware. Her parents still live there. I have her purse back at the dorm. I can go get it."

"That'll be great. If you do that, I can go check on her. When you come back, I'll have an update for you." He looked over at the nurses' station and saw Annie waiting there for him.

"I brought you these," Annie said, holding out the bag of tacos. "They're probably cold. Sorry."

"At this point, I'd eat a horse. Thank you. You're a lifesaver. Why don't you head home and I'll see you in a couple of hours? I gotta get up to the OR."

"Oh. Okay. I'll see you later."

"You okay?" Puck asked Kitty as they passed Annie in the hallway.

"Yeah. Just a little ringing in my ears."

"I meant him. Your patient. It can be hard when we lose a patient."

"He OD'ed. I did everything I was supposed to do. I've seen people die before. I don't get attached. I'm okay."

Annie frowned and walked over to where Mollie was standing at the nurses' station. "Excuse me, the patient in there. Have you contacted his family yet?" she asked.

"We're still trying to track them down."

"I can help. I do it for the rehab center sometimes."

"You don't have to do that, Annie," Puck said.

"I know. But everybody seems pretty fried and you've all been so nice to me. I'd like to help."

"I could use the help," Mollie said, turning around to face Puck. "Thank you," she said, turning back to Annie. "I hate making those calls."

Puck started walking away from the nurses' station when he was cornered by Jessica. "So I did a cost analysis and I think we can match what you're paying or maybe even beat it."

"Man, you do not quit. I get it. You want the pharmacy contract. I'll read your proposal. Later. Not now. That's the best I can do."

"No problem, you're exhausted. Maybe you'll have a clearer mind after an all expenses paid vacation?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Pharmaceutical conferences. Florida. The Caribbean. All expenses paid for you and your family. Or maybe just you and your wife. A little second honeymoon."

"That's all aboveboard?"

"You're probably the only ER chief in the country who's not taking them. And you don't have to go to the lectures. Hell, I never do."

"Just out of curiosity, do you ever have one in Hawaii?"

"Oh yeah."

"Really? Is the hotel included?"

Across town, Riley, Syd's daughter, was about to compete in her first match of the tournament. "Let's go Riley!" Kurt said. "Take her down!" He looked over at Sam, who was recording the match on his phone. "Are you getting everything? Make sure you're getting everything for Syd."

"I got it," Sam said.

"Don't let her take you down!"

"I gotta admit, this is way more fun than I thought it would be," Sam said.

"Watch the single leg. That's okay. Get in the guard, get in the guard!"

"Get the little Rousey wannabe!" Sam yelled, earning glares from the parents sitting around them.

"Look for an opening," Kurt said, getting off the bleachers. "Good. That's okay. Yes! You got this! The arm bar!" He watched intently for a few seconds until the other girl tapped Riley on the leg. "Yes! Yes! She tapped! She tapped!"

"Riley, Riley, Riley, Riley!" Sam cheered.

"That was awesome," Kurt said when she ran over to where they were both now standing.

"Thanks," Riley said, smiling. "I think some of the parents are giving you dirty looks."

"Haters gonna hate," Sam said, standing up straighter to give a dirty look right back to them.

"Look at me," Kurt said. "I scouted your next opponent. She's bigger than you so you cannot let her take you down."

"Okay. What if I just do this?" she said, lunging towards Kurt to do a move on him.

"Okay, then I'm gonna do this," Kurt said.

"Uh, you're gonna trip," Sam said as the two of them went crashing onto the gym floor.

"Ow!"

"Riley, are you okay?" Sam asked.

"What hurts?" Kurt asked.

"My elbow. "Ow."

Back at the hospital, Rachel was walking out of the break room with a cup of coffee in her hand when she heard someone say her name behind her. "Hey," she said, turning around to see Kenny.

"You're working tonight? That's four nights in a row, right?"

"Five. I cannot wait to have the weekend off."

"Speaking of which, I have a buddy who owns a B&B up in Hill Country. I was thinking we could go there for the weekend. What do you think?"

"That sounds nice but why don't we stay around here? We can go to the bar, we can watch a game. I can kick your ass in pool again."

"There you go, swimming under the boat."

"I don't know what that means."

"Just when I get you on the line, you run off in a panic."

"It's no panic. I'm just tired."

"No, it's cool. We're just having fun, right? I gotta let out the line a little bit. No big deal. Pool it is."

"Okay," Rachel said.

Up in the OR, Brody and Artie were working on Alina. "We've got to ligate both internal iliacs or she'll start bleeding again."

"Got it. I'll start the Mattox maneuver," Artie said.

Jessica walked over to the intercom and pressed the button. "How's the poor girl?"

"Stable for the moment," Brody said. "You got two minutes. You get Dr. Puckerman to sign on?"

"Yep. Mai tais in Maui. But only if the other attendings agree to it. What's my best approach with Dr. Hudson?"

"Well, besides a short skirt and a bottle of whiskey? I would offer something to the veterans clinic where he volunteers."

"That's easy. It's great PR. What about Dr. Berry? Any ideas how to handle her?"

"Not a fucking clue," Brody said as Artie said to chuckle. "Sorry, inside joke. Dr. Berry is the OCD A student who's going to cross examine you on the data. Just overwhelm her with your research. That'll get her to sign on."

"Thanks for the tips. The heart valve's almost yours."

"I think we might actually get it," Artie said. "I genuflect in your direction."

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on. Puck and the vacation? Finn and the vets? Rachel and the charts? You're the puppet master. You're the man behind the curtain. You are Keyser Soze."

"No, I'm just trying to push things along. That valve would be a game changer for us. Let's get that other side tied off, okay?"

Down in the lobby, Finn took Alina's purse from Desi. "I just grabbed her whole purse. Her phone should be in there."

Finn started digging around, trying to find her phone. Instead, he pulled out a bottle of pills. "Are these hers?"

"I guess so."

"She seemed fine? Didn't seem depressed?"

"No, not at all."

Finn walked around the counter and went to one of the computers. He set them down and started typing in the name of the prescription, Ruprorin. He scrolled down to the side effects and scoffed. "Puck, is that pharma rep still here?"

"I think she's upstairs observing a surgery. But I can call up," Puck said as Finn started walking towards the elevators.

"What is it?" Desi asked, watching Finn leave.

Puck went around the computer to see what Finn was looking at that made him so mad. "Oh," Puck said, reading that the medicine could cause suicidal thoughts or actions.

Finn saw Jessica walking down one of the hallways and ran up to her. "Hey. How the hell do you sleep at night?"

"Uh, bourbon, usually. Sometimes Ambien. Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, the girl in there, she's on Ruprorin. Sound familiar?"

"Yeah, it's an acne med we offer. It works great."

"Yeah, it works great for suicide."

"What are you saying?"

"That girl, she jumped off a balcony. She tried to kill herself. Your drug causes suicidal thoughts."

"That's one possible side effect," Jessica said. "But her doctor prescribed it."

"How about being responsible and not putting out a bad drug?"

"It's not a bad drug. All drugs have side effects. Ibuprofen has side effects."

"That girl almost died because your company cares more about the bottom line than about people."

"You have no idea if that's why she jumped! And my company has drugs that curb AIDS and that slows the rate of cancer. And some of them, guess what, they have side effects that include suicidal thoughts. So are you against those as well?"

"No. I'm against compromising my integrity."

"Oh please. Like you don't have a smartphone made by child labor in China. We're all compromising something."

"Maybe some of us more than others."

"I get it. You're frustrated. You're raging against the machine. But I am not the machine."

"No," Finn said. "You work for the machine. And maybe that's worse."

Rachel looked down the hallway and saw the pharmaceutical rep and thought now would be her chance. "Excuse me," she said, running up to her. "Hi. I'm Dr. Berry. This might not be the best time, but can I ask you a couple of questions?"

"Sure, if I can ask you one," Jessica said. "Why is that guy such a dick?"

Rachel started laughing. "Yeah. That's complicated. Let me buy you a coffee," she said, leading her down the hallway.

Across the hospital, Kitty opened the doors to the room where the guy from earlier died and saw Annie sitting there. "I have to take him downstairs."

"Oh. Okay," Annie said, looking up from her phone. "I've reached out but I still haven't found any close relatives nearby. I just didn't like the idea of him laying here all alone without anyone."

Kitty pulled up the rails on the bed. "I don't think he'd mind but it's your waste of time."

"Did I do something to offend you?"

"Not really. You don't even know this guy. I don't get why you care so much."

"Well, because I'm trying to help. It's part of the program."

"Ah. One of those."

"One of what?" Annie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"12-steppers. Always preaching the gospel, trying to convert more members to your little cult."

"It's not a cult. What are you, 12? You have no idea what you're talking about. If you had any experience—"

"I've had experience with it. I've seen addiction take a lot of people too soon. I've been in the program and I've seen it fail firsthand."

"Well, I'm sorry it didn't work for you. But it's worked for—"

"Millions? Yeah. I know the spiel. Good luck. I mean it," Kitty said, pushing the bed out of the room.

In the break room, Rachel and Jessica were talking. "Ten years? You were with that dude for 10 years?" Jessica said.

"Well, it was on and off. But, you know…"

"Oh my god."

"In the end, we realized that it wasn't right for us to be together. But, you know, there's this whole other side to him that not a lot of people get to see. And, honestly, you couldn't ask for a more loyal person. To his friends and his patients."

"Well, I guess there's something to be said for that, right? And he's not exactly ugly."

"No, he's not. So, uh, do you think you can get Hannah a spot on your new study?"

"She won't fit the inclusion criteria. Trial starts in two weeks and she's had chemotherapy in the last 30 days. It disqualifies her."

"So there's nothing you can do?"

"I didn't say that. There's always something that can be done. Let me ask you a question. What would it take to get you to change your ER's pharmaceutical provider?"

Outside of the break room, Puck caught up with Brody and Artie. "Hey. How's Alina doing?" he asked the two surgeons.

"I just took her to recovery. She's stable for now. They gotta keep monitoring her crits. Have you seen Finn?" Brody asked.

"No, I've been looking for him. I heard he went off on Jessica."

"Yeah, the nurses could hear him yelling from the OR," Artie said. "If he messed up our heart valve…"

"Yeah, I know. I already told Quinn about Hawaii."

"What?" Brody asked.

"I…it's…I'll talk to Finn."

"Yeah, like that'll do any good," Brody scoffed. "And nothing personal, but the guy doesn't listen to anybody. Not me, not even you. And I try to keep the peace with him, you know I do, but sometimes I just wanna…"

"Yeah, I know," Puck said. "I get it."

"Sorry about that," Artie said, watching Brody walk off. "We just really need the heart valve."

Puck nodded and looked over to the entrance, seeing Kurt and Sam wheel in a girl who looked about the same age as Beth.

"Over this way to get you x-rayed," Kurt said.

"What happened?" Puck asked.

"Kurt broke my arm," the girl said.

"Maybe you don't say it like that."

"But you did."

"Who's that?" Puck asked, watching Kurt wheel her down towards the end of the hallway.

"That's Riley. Syd's daughter," Sam said.

"Who's Syd?"

"The doctor Kurt was deployed with in Bagram. We went to her jiu-jitsu tournament tonight and Kurt accidentally fell on her."

"That's going to be a fun call to Mom."

"Right?" Sam said as he started laughing.

"Puck," Rachel said, rounding the corner. "Hey. So, I hear that you're open to switching to Pressler Pharmaceuticals. You do the research?"

"Yeah. It looks good. Prices are competitive. Same meds, different names. Are you open to switching?"

"I'm open. If you are."

A little while later, Finn and Puck were in the bathroom. "You know," Puck said, "Attacking her like that is completely unprofessional."

"Yeah, well, I was pissed."

"My twins get pissed too. But I expect a tantrum from them. They're three. Look, the heart valve study's huge for this hospital. We'll make a compromise here and there. I think we'd do it." Puck looked over his shoulder. "Can you not stand right there?"

"Yeah. Sorry," Finn said, turning around and smacking him on the butt.

"Hey!"

"Puck, I'm not gonna apologize."

"No, I didn't expect you to. Just sign on the deal. Do it for me. And for the hospital. Do it for the hospital. If it's not this company, it'll be another one."

Finn ripped a paper towel from the dispenser, dried his hands and threw it away. "Alright. Fine. I'll do it."

"Yeah?" Puck asked, looking up from the sink.

"Yeah."

"Thanks. Oh, and one more thing." He cupped his hands under the water and it sprayed Finn in the pants, making Puck start laughing. "Looks like you wet your pants. You should change your pants."

"You know payback's gonna be a bitch, right?" Finn called out after him as he left the bathroom.

Across the hospital, Brody walked outside with his head in his hands as he let out a loud sigh. "Hey," Annie said, seeing him walk out. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Hey," he said, walking closer to where she was sitting. "What are you still doing here?"

"I didn't want to be alone. That's why I brought Finn the food. That's why I helped Puck with that OD."

"I get it. Anything to avoid the middle of the night struggle. Staring at the ceiling, waiting for the sun to come up."

"Pretty much. I know you two aren't close. I know about the whole Rachel thing. But he's been amazing to me. Taking care of me, helping me. He's been my rock."

"That's really great."

"Yeah. But it's a lot of pressure, too, you know? I feel like I can't be totally honest with him, like…he'll be nervous or get worried. I just…I don't want to disappoint him."

"It's gotta be about you."

"That's what scares me. I keep thinking about that man, that _boy_ who OD'ed tonight. I just keep thinking that could have been me."

"It's not," Brody said, sitting down on the bench next to her. "You're here, alive, working the program. Step by step."

"I know. But something that Kitty girl said—"

"Do not listen to her. She's mouthy, that one."

"Yeah. That's for damn sure. Still…what if I relapse? What if I'm not strong enough?"

"Then you get back up and you start over."

"You ever relapsed?"

"Yeah. It was last year. I relapsed last year." His pager started going off and he reached into his pocket to get it. "I gotta get this."

Inside the hospital, Artie was hanging up a bag of fluids. "It could be a reaction to the anesthesia?"

"No, she must have had a pleural tear," Finn said. "And the positive pressure from the vent has caused subcutaneous emphysema."

"What does that mean?" Desi asked as Brody walked in. "Is she okay?"

"Air from her lungs is leaking into her soft tissue," Brody said.

"Uh, guys," Artie said as the heart rate monitor started beeping.

"She's blowing up," Desi said, looking at her friend.

Everyone looked at Alina as it looked like she was swelling up and around her mask.

"Her stats are dropping," Artie said.

"Subcutaneous air is constricting her lungs," Finn said.

"Do something!"

"We gotta release this air before she codes," Brody said.

"Alina. Can you hear me? Alina," Desi said as they started working on her.

"BP's down to 63 systolic," Artie said.

"Alright, we gotta go. Stay with us, Alina," Finn said.

Brody made an incision in her side and they waited to see what would happen. "Pressure's holding," Artie said.

"I need to make an incision on the other side," Brody said.

Across the hospital, Rachel was talking to Hannah about options. "So, I talked to that pharma rep. She's gonna try to get you in on that trial study."

"I told you I didn't want to do that."

"You are not going to make it to Mexico without some help. You fainted, you have a fever. You need this."

"Why can't you just take no for an answer?"

"I don't like to quit."

"But it's not you quitting. It's me. Why does that bother you so much?"

"Can't someone just care?"

"Yeah. But there's always a deeper meaning to it."

Rachel shook her head. "What is this, a therapy session? Who's treating who here?"

"I guess I never mentioned what my job was. I'm a therapist."

"Well that makes sense. Where have you been my whole life?"

"I'm here now. So, what do you think this not being able to quit is about?" Hannah asked. When she noticed Rachel wasn't intent on sharing, she gave her a smile. "Come on, let me feel like I'm helping somebody again."

"You really want to do this?"

"You talk to me…I will try your study."

Across the hospital, Alina was starting to come to. "Feeling better now, huh?" Artie said.

"Yeah. That was scary."

"I bet," Brody said. "The air will continue to drain, so you might feel a little swollen for a few more days."

"And you'll be immobilized with that pelvic fracture," Finn said.

"But she's going to be okay, right?" Desi asked.

"Physically, she'll heal okay. Alina, we need to talk to you about the medication you were taking."

"What medication?" Alina asked.

"The acne medication," Artie said.

"It's got some pretty serious side effects," Finn said. "Including suicidal thoughts."

"It wasn't the pills. I hadn't taken them yet," Alina said.

"What?"

"It's just been really hard for me this year. With school and I've just been feeling alone."

"Alina, why didn't you tell me you were feeling that way?"

Alina shrugged. "I didn't want to bother anyone. The second I stepped off the balcony, I changed my mind. But it was too late."

"Alina, I've been there," Finn said.

"You have?" she said, her voice breaking.

"Yeah. When I got back from the war, I lost my brother and I didn't see any reason. But there was. And I got help. That was the best thing I ever did."

"I'd like to get someone to talk to you," Brody said. "Would that be okay?"

"Okay. Are my parents coming?"

"Yeah," Artie said. "They got in the first flight to come and see you."

"Can I stay with her?" Desi asked.

"Of course. We'll check in later, okay?" Finn said.

In one of the lounges, Riley was venting to Sam. "I'm just bummed I didn't get to finished the tournament. I totally would have kicked that girl's butt.

"Oh yeah," Sam agreed. "If Kurt didn't break your elbow, you would have smoked her."

"Hey," Kurt said, coming in. "It's not broken. Just sprained. You are going to have to wear this sling this week."

"What?" Riley said flatly. "I don't even get a cool cast for people to write on?"

"Sorry. And I'm really sorry about all this. I know it's not the best way to end the night."

"It's okay. I had fun. And at least my mom will get to see the video of my first match."

"Yeah and she'll get to kill me when she comes home and sees you. You've been a trooper, though. You're pretty grown up for 13. I was a bit of an idiot when I was your age."

"And some would say you still are," Sam said as Riley started laughing.

"That's not funny," Kurt said as his phone started ringing. "Oh, hold on a second. This is going to be ugly," he said, seeing Syd calling him. "Syd, before you start yelling at me—"

"Let me talk to her," Syd's voice said on the other line.

"Right," Kurt said.

"Hi, Mom," Riley said. "No, I'm fine. It was my fault. I tripped. I'm a klutz. But wait until you see the match. I was awesome."

Across the hospital, Rachel was having a mini therapy session with Hannah. "There have been times in my life…my father…he's dead, by the way, and in my personal relationships where I feel like I have just quit. I feel like I could have done more to help them. Since I don't have what it takes in my personal life, I make damn sure not to quit in my professional one."

"Whoa. You are messed up. I'm sorry I asked," Hannah said, causing Rachel to give her a dirty look. "I gotcha, didn't I?"

"Yeah, a little. Which tells me you believe that crap."

"Which crap?"

"The crap about you quitting on people. I mean, it's not as simple as it sounds but you know you bust your ass with your patients. So why won't you give yourself the same benefit of the doubt with your relationships?"

"I don't know."

"Then that's what we should be talking about."

Outside the hospital, Annie and Brody were talking some more. "So, that's when you relapsed?" Annie asked.

Brody sighed. "I settled the lawsuit and I gave them everything I had. I lost everything. But I still couldn't stand the guilt. And I tried to go see him, but they wouldn't let me. Still won't let me. And so then…I had a drink. Or 10."

"But then you just stopped yourself?"

"Barely," Brody said. "But it never should have gotten to that point. There's always help available but I ignored it. I got cocky. Big time surgeon, great career. I figured all my problems and all my issues are behind me. I didn't have a sponsor and I wasn't going to meetings."

"I'll tell you what," Annie said. "The next time you feel like that, you have to call me."

"And you'll bring tacos?"

"I will bring you anything you want." She smiled and bit her lip as Brody leaned forward and kissed her.

A little while later, Rachel was putting files down at the nurses' station when she saw Jessica. "Hey. You wanted to see me?"

"Yeah. Good news. She's in."

"You got the trial pushed back?"

"Not exactly. I messed with the dates of your patients last chemotherapy appointment."

"I didn't ask you to lie."

"Do you want her to be in the trial or not?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Well, this is the only way. I'm going off of her records from the previous month, which gives her the 30 day buffer she needs. I never saw the other ones. You don't have to do anything. I'm doing it. Just don't undo it."

"I can't guarantee that this ER's going to go with your company. It's being considered but I can't be beholden—"

"Relax. I didn't do this as quid pro quo. Your conscience is safe. Let's just say I needed a win tonight. Off set some bad karma."

"Thanks," Rachel said. "I'll go tell her." She started walking down the hallway when she heard beeping coming from Hannah's room.

"Shortness of breath," Heather said when she walked in.

"Hannah, hang in there. Everything's going to be okay. I've got some good news. We got you in that trial. How great is that?"

"My chest really hurts," Hannah said in a strained voice. "I can't breathe."

"I need a crash cart!" Rachel yelled. She looked up and saw Puck walk in. "Acute chest pain and hypoxia. This is a PE, I'm pushing tPa. Page vascular and tell them we're on our way."

"Rachel, she's DNR. She doesn't want this."

"I know," Rachel said, her voice cracking. "But I just."

"Let me go. I wanna go," Hannah said.

"Rachel…" Puck said.

Rachel didn't even bother to hide her tears. "Get her some morphine please," she said to Heather.

Hannah's breathing became more ragged and Heather took off her oxygen mask.

Across the hospital, Kitty was waiting for the elevators but was stopped by Puck who was coming out of Hannah's room. "Hey, I'm glad I caught you. There's something I need to say."

"What's up?"

"Earlier, when you seemed nonchalant after we lost the patient…"

"Puck…"

"Just hear me out. Because this is important. I know we see some terrible things in this job. And in order to survive, we need to be able to compartmentalize certain things and not get too attached."

"It's not that," Kitty said. "Look, that kid who overdosed and then seeing that girl jump because I thought she was drunk, it pushed my buttons."

"How so?"

"Where I grew up, drugs and alcohol are everywhere. So when I see some rich, white college kid who has it all and just throws it away…I worked really hard to get where I am today and I almost didn't make it. I would've given anything to have the opportunities he had. I'm sorry, but I don't have a lot of sympathy."

"There's nothing wrong with being proud of what you've overcome but you do have to find a way to make an emotional connection with your patients, no matter what biases you might have. We all bring our own baggage to every case, especially when you first start. But you have to find a way to put that aside if you ever hope to grow as a doctor."

"Okay," Kitty said. "I'll work on it."

In Hannah's room, Rachel was sitting by her bed when she heard the door open. She turned around and saw Jessica walk in. "Rachel?" Jessica said. "I'm so sorry. If there's any way I can help in the future, please let me know."

"Thank you for everything," Rachel said. She turned back to Hannah as Jessica left the room, where Artie walked her out to the parking lot.

"Hey, listen, thanks for everything," Artie said. "I just wanted to say that what Finn did was inappropriate and I wanted to apologize on behalf of the entire hospital."

"You can stop. You're getting the heart valve," Jessica said.

"We are?"

"Truth is, San Antonio Memorial was already one of the hospitals chosen for the pilot program. I was just kind of trying to squeeze a little extra out tonight, so…"

"That's great. Because, you know, we do have a very consistent track record with…"

"Artie, learn how to take a yes," Jessica said, seeing Finn walking in the hospital. "You can go now."

"Okay," he said. He turned around to walk back inside and saw Finn walking out of the hospital. "We got the heart valve, man," he said, holding up his hand for a high five, which Finn ignored.

"So, that's good news," Finn said, catching up to Jessica. "I was looking for you because I wanted to apologize for earlier."

"Was that it? Because it's pretty lame."

"You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?"

"No. You don't have to apologize. You're passionate about your patients. That's more than admirable. Kinda feels like everyone on this shift is, actually."

"Thank you for helping Dr. Berry. I guess I may have been wrong about you. I shouldn't have said all that stuff."

"Actually, you were kind of right. Selling pharmaceuticals and my soul? It's a BS job. I hate it. This is not my life's dream. I got a job out of college and was super in debt, student loans and voila. Six years later, here I am," she said, stepping off the curb and went over to a motorcycle.

"Is that yours?" Finn asked.

"Yeah," she said, starting the engine.

Finn walked over to the motorcycle. "You know how to ride that thing?"

"You'd be surprised what I know how to ride." She put on a helmet and handed a card to Finn. "Give me a call. Maybe I can show you a few more surprises."

Rachel was still up in Hannah's room, thinking about everything she'd been told the past few hours. She heard the door open, sniffed and turned around to see Finn walk into the room. "Hey," Finn said, putting a hand on her shoulder as he gently started rubbing it. "I heard what you've been through tonight."

"This is just not how I expected things to go. I mean, we lose patients all the time. It's just, sometimes there's…"

"Yeah. Sometimes you just find one that really gets to you. I understand."

"She wasn't afraid of dying. She just faced it head on. I mean, I wish I had that kind of strength."

"Hey," Finn said. "You do. I've seen it."

Rachel smiled and laid her hand on top of Finn's. "Thanks, Finn. I really mean it." She turned around and faced him. "I should go. I've got charts I've been neglecting tonight."

"You wanna get breakfast or something after shift?" he asked. "You know…just so you're not alone."

She gave him a watery smile. "I'd like that a lot. I'll meet you out front after shift." She gave him another smile and walked out of the hospital room. She stopped when she got to the end of the hallway and sent a quick text to Kenny, saying that their plans would have to be temporarily on hold.

After shift, Finn met Rachel at the front of the hospital, as promised. "You doing better?"

Rachel shrugged. "As good as I can, I guess? You wanna go to that one place we used to go?"

"It burned down while you were gone," Finn said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Really? Damn. They had really good hash browns. Well, I guess we could just…drive around until we find something that look appetizing."

"Sounds good to me, Rach."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Hot In The City**

A week later, a record-breaking heatwave was happening in San Antonio, leaving the residents of the city looking for different ways to keep cool in the mounting heat.

At Rachel's place, she was listening to the radio as she cooled down in the shower. "Temperatures will be reaching 102 by 5 p.m. and won't be letting up anytime soon."

She shook her head and opened the door to her shower, seeing Kenny standing there holding a plate. "I made you an herb omelet."

"Oh. Another omelet. Too bad it's going to get cold," she said, leaning in to kiss him.

Across town, Finn and Jessica were at his place, spending their day getting cozy in bed with a fan blowing on them to try and keep cool. She reached over and grabbed a scarf that was on the floor and tied it around his eyes, smiling at the fact that he was already tied to the bed by his hands. She ran her hands down his chest and got out of bed. "Hey, where are you going?" he asked. "Jessica? Jessica?" He heard the water in the bathroom turn on and he started to get nervous. "Hey, Jess? I gotta go to work. Jessica!" he called out.

At another apartment, Sam was running his phone down someone's back. "102," he said, looking at the temperature. "Damn, that's hot. Maybe we should call in sick, you know? Stay in this nice, air conditioned apartment."

Jocelyn turned around and smiled at him. "It might look a little suspicious, both of us sick on the same night."

"What's the worst that can happen? Rumor mill starts?"

"The hospital will make us take a day long sexual harassment seminar. I've got better things to do," she said, leaning in to kiss him.

At the hospital parking lot, Brody and Annie were making out in her car. "Are you sure we should be doing this in front of your work?" Annie asked. Brody smiled at her and kissed her again. "Never mind."

A little while later, Brody met up with Finn outside the hospital. "Hey. How's it going, Finn?"

"Good. You?"

"Never better," Brody said as he started whistling, catching the attention of Kurt and Puck at the nurses' station.

"What's going on with the whistler?" Puck asked.

"Looks like someone's getting a little something something in the bedroom," Kurt said.

"That obvious, huh?" Finn said, walking up to where the two of them were standing.

"I was talking about Brody, but thanks for the update," Kurt said. "Now we know what you've been up to."

"And apparently it was all day because you look like hell. Jessica?" Puck guessed.

Finn through his backpack at him. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Hey, you're not the only one getting action. Ever since I started working out, I can't keep my hands off Quinn. This morning, we got busy for like, 10 minutes," Puck said, getting a high five from Finn.

"You wanna hear about my sex life with Blaine?" Kurt asked. "This is what we're doing now," he said, walking away.

"Female, 30. Collapsed during a marathon," Kenny said, bringing in a patient on a gurney. "BP's 90 over palp. Pulse is tachy and irregular. Temp is 102."

"Sounds like heat stroke. Trauma one," Finn said. "Who runs a marathon in this heatwave?"

"Charity race. Lots of heat stroke. More coming behind us."

"Sounds like it's only the beginning."

A little while later, she was starting to come through. "Temp is still up but your heart rate's coming down," Finn said. "You feeling better?"

"A little bit. I've had a fever for a couple days. But I just ignored it. I didn't want to miss the race."

"You're pretty hard core," Finn said, listening to her heart.

"I didn't use to be. I went through a really bad divorce this year. I decided I needed to make a change. I started weight training and exercising and lost 50 pounds."

"Congratulations," Finn said. "Take a deep breath for me."

"I didn't realize how depressed I was until my marriage was over."

"You find it hard to move on?"

"It's one of the hardest things I've ever done. I'm training for a tough mudder right now and it's a piece of cake compared to my divorce."

"How long have you had this rash?" Finn asked, pointing to a spot next to her shoulder.

"About a week. I thought it was from all the sweating."

"Maybe. I wanna run some blood work. Persistent fever and a rash could be a virus. Gotta make sure you're healthy for that tough mudder, right?"

Across town, Rachel and Kitty were at a wrestling match, enjoying their day off together. "How did you find out about this?" Rachel asked as they walked to their seats.

"Some guy from Bumble. If you dated around more, you might actually have some fun, Rachel. Oh," Kitty said, watching one of the matches. "That was just wrong! El Matador is kicking his ass."

"El Matador's my cousin," one of the spectators sitting next to Rachel said. "He specializes in this move called Montezuma's Revenge. It was made famous by this Cuban wrestler named Konnan. My cousin does it the best. Check it out, he's about to do it. He lifts El Tigre up, hooks his legs so he can't touch the ground. And with his free arm, puts El Tigre's head into his armpit, driving El Tigre's head into the mat. Bam!" he said as Rachel started laughing. "I really wanna be aluchador. I just gotta gain some weight. I eat all the time. This doctor told me my metabolism's too high. I'd give anything to be in that ring. It's the only way I'm going to get a pretty girl like you."

"Thanks," Rachel said.

"I'm Victor."

"She has a boyfriend," Kitty said.

"Technically Kenny's not my boyfriend."

"Friend with benefits?"

"I don't know, okay? I'm just trying to figure things out and take it a day at a time. You know what I mean, Victor?"

"I can't even get a date."

The next round was starting and someone gave El Tigre a metal chain, which he started using on El Matador.

"That's an illegal move, ref," Victor said, walking down to the ring. "He's choking him! Look! Look at the chains! He's choking him! Disqualify him! Disqualify!" Victor yelled.

El Matador knocked El Tigre out of the ring and he fell into the crowd of people. "Okay, we're leaving," Rachel said.

"Put your hands around your head," Kitty said. "Anyone comes at you, knee to the crotch."

"You son of a bitch," someone yelled from an upper level. He jumped down and hit Victor in the chest.

"Victor," Rachel said, going over to help him. "You okay? Try to breathe." She turned around, trying to look for Kitty. "Call 911," she said as the ring girl got kicked out of the ring.

A little while later, the ambulances got to the hospital and Kurt sprang into action. "What do you got?"

"Female, 20s," Kitty said. "Traumatic C-spine injury. She's moving all extremities. Tender to palpitation over her second vertebrae."

"What does that mean? Am I going to be paralyzed?"

"We're going to do some tests. Can you tell me your name?" Kurt said.

"Amelia. Please, I have to be able to walk."

"What's going on?" Puck said, running over.

"We got a C2 fracture," Kurt said. "Let's get some portable C-spine films him," he said, getting her into a trauma room.

"That's tricky," Puck said.

"Yeah, and if it's unstable and she moves, she can cut her own spine and lose the ability to breathe. I saw this in Bagram. It can go bad fast."

"Kitty, can you page ortho? We need Dr. Williams in here right now."

"Got it," Kitty said, walking out.

"On my count. 3, 2, 1," Kurt said as they transferred her to a hospital bed. "Let's roll her."

"It's going to be awhile before the on-call orthopod gets here. Can you handle this until then?" Puck asked.

"Yeah. Amelia, I'm Dr. Hummel. I'm gonna help you, okay?"

"I'm really scared."

"I know. I'm gonna do everything I can for you."

Across the hospital, Rachel was bringing in Victor. "Mid radial fracture, closed. Possible broken lower ribs. Give him 100 of fentanyl and order a CT to look at his liver."

"Alright buddy," Sam said. "We're going to take a look inside and make sure nothing's bleeding."

"Rachel, you gonna be here when I get back, babe?" Victor asked.

"You're my patient, honey. I'm not going anywhere."

At the nurses' station, Kitty was on the phone with the ortho surgeon. "Well, what do you want me to tell Dr. Puckerman? You're three sheets to the wind? I don't know what that means. Oh, you're wasted. A whole bottle of red wine. You should probably go to sleep. A little tip: you should probably prop up your head so you don't choke on your own vomit," she said, hanging up the phone. "Douche. What part of on call does he not get?"

"Hey," Artie said. "I thought you were going to, like, a wrestling match or something."

"Luncha Libre. Brawl broke out in the crowd."

"You take a hit? No black eye or anything I hope."

"Nope, just a black soul. Don't you have any patients?"

"No, not yet."

"Surgeons have really easy, don't they?"

"What? Why would you even say that?"

"Because you're just sitting around," Kitty said.

"No I'm not," Artie said, standing up. "I'm not sitting around. Basically, it's just a slow night in surgery. Oh, I almost forgot. I have a post-op check on one of Brody's patients. So I'm gonna go…go do that," he said, walking away quickly.

Jocelyn started laughing from where she was standing. "You really don't like Artie, do you?"

"I do. He just takes himself so seriously. The guy needs to lighten up."

In one of the hallways, Rachel and Sam were looking at the wrestlers gathered in the waiting room. "So why can't he take his mask off?" Rachel asked.

"He can't reveal his identity."

"Okay…so why is he still wearing his leotard and cape?"

"That I can't answer."

"Oh my god," Heather said from behind them. "It's El Matador. He's my favorite. Did he do his Montezuma's Revenge move?"

"Yeah," Rachel said as Heather moaned. "You like wrestling, Heather?"

"Like it? I love it. Maybe he'll give me an autograph," she said, walking into the waiting room.

"Can you do me a favor and drag El Matador away from his adoring fans so he can cheer up his cousin?" Rachel asked.

"I'll get him some scrubs."

"Thank you." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Such a weird night." She heard a noise come from the ceiling and she looked up with a horrified look on her face. "Son of a bitch."

Puck walked out of Amelia's hospital room. "Did the air conditioner just stop?"

"Yep. And I just want to go on the record that I had the night off," she said, giving Puck a dirty look.

Finn walked into his patient's room and moved a fan over to give her some cool air. "I feel awful," she said. "It's so hot in here."

"Yeah, the AC's broken. I'll get you some more ice packs." He sat down on the edge of her bed. "So, your viral panel and urinalysis came back negative, but now we have to add vomiting to your symptoms."

"I have a horrible headache while you're at it."

"Might be time for a spinal tap."

"I'd prefer a beer on tap, but something tells me that's not on the menu."

Back in Amelia's room, they were trying to figure out what was going on with her. "She's got an anterior/dislocation fracture of the dens. Surgery's precarious," Kurt said.

"Right," Puck said. "Well, she's neurologically intact. Can't we just decompress the spine with traction?"

"Yeah. Did you get ahold of Dr. Williams?"

"Yeah," Puck scoffed. "We got ahold of him. He can't get ahold of himself. The man has a little problem with alcohol."

"Okay. Well, Syd, the orthopod that I worked with in Bagram, she was amazing and I learned a lot from her. I can set up traction by myself. I did a few back in country."

"Okay. I'll help you put her in Gardner-Wells tongs."

Kurt nodded and walked back over to her bed. "Amelia, this contraption is going to look a little scary, but it's going to help, okay? You just need to be very still."

"Okay. What if this doesn't work? If I can't walk, then I can't work and then I can't pay for college."

"College? That's great. What are you studying?" Kurt asked, trying to distract her from the pain from the injections.

"I'm in business school. I wanna be a sports agent. I'm not just some dumb girl in a bikini."

"No one thinks that."

"Lots of people do. I'm only 21. What happens if I end up in a wheelchair?"

"You won't," Kurt said. "I promise you're going to walk out of here. You're going to feel a little bit of pressure."

Rachel walked into CT and smiled at the tech. "It's hot in here too, isn't it?"

"Yeah," the tech said, smiling.

"How you feeling, Victor?" Rachel asked.

"Better after the pain shot."

Rachel chuckled. "Thank you for looking out for me earlier."

"I had to get in the way of danger, princesa. Gotta protect that beautiful face of yours."

"You don't give up, do you?"

"Hopefully someone was recording it so the league can see that I can take a hit."

"See that right there," Rachel said, pointing to a spot on the computer screen, half listening to what Victor was saying.

"I'm like a cat. El Gato."

"I would root for El Gato," Rachel said. "So, it looks like you have a small laceration on your liver from a broken rib and small cyst, which is probably a benign adenoma."

"What's that?"

"It's a tumor formed from epithelial tissue. Don't worry, it's not cancer. You're fine. So, we're going to fix up your arm, but I'd like to keep you overnight to observe that laceration, okay?"

"Yeah, you can keep me overnight, girl."

In the break room, Puck was talking to Kurt. "I called the day shift orthopod to come in and take a look at Amelia. You think you went too far with that promise to her?"

"Maybe I shouldn't have promised her, but I've just seen too many 21 year olds end up in permanent wheelchairs. I'm not ready to see another one."

"You know, we haven't really had a chance to talk since you got back to civilization. How are you doing?"

"Some days are a little rocky. Swerving under bridges, hoping somebody doesn't drop on IED on my truck. That kind of fun stuff."

"You know, when I got back from my first tour, I asked our gardener to move the shrubs from the back of the house to the front. I thought I could create a plant barrier against outside elements," Puck said, smiling at the distant memory.

"Right, probably because, you know, a shrub will protect you from a pipe bomb, right?"

"That's exactly right. Totally rational."

The door to the break room opened to reveal Sam. "Something's wrong with your patient. Hurry up."

The two of them looked at each other and rushed to Amelia's room. "I can't feel my legs! I can't feel my legs! Please help me! You promised me!"

"Traction didn't work. She needs surgery now."

"I'll get Brody," Puck said.

"Amelia, everything's going to be okay."

"That's what you said before."

In the scrub room, Kurt was scrubbing in alongside Brody for Amelia's surgery. "I need to manually reduce the fragment fracture and screw it in place," Kurt said.

Puck walked in to the scrub room. "Day shift orthopod hasn't called back."

"I'm not a spinal surgeon and neither are you, Kurt," Brody said. "This is pretty risky."

"Well, we're not waiting. If we do nothing, she's paralyzed. In the war zone, you do a little bit of everything. You don't wait around for the on-call guy. I can do this."

Brody sighed. "Puck, thoughts?"

"Well, Kurt worked with an ace ortho in Bagram. He says he's done spinal surgery before. I trust that he knows what he's doing."

"Alright," Brody said, drying his hands. "Kurt, this is your show now. I will assist."

"Patient is sedated and ready," one of the nurses said.

"One wrong move and we can take out her spinal cord," Brody said.

"Not gonna happen," Kurt said.

"Hey," Finn said, walking into the locker room.

Rachel turned around from where she was staring blankly into her locker. "It's so hot that I can't even think straight. I've been looking for a ponytail holder for the last five minutes and just can't seem to find it. Knowing me, I probably wore it home after a shift and left it there."

Finn frowned and walked over to Rachel's locker and picked up the brown ponytail holder that was on the bottom of her locker. "The heat must really be getting to you."

"Thanks," she said, taking the elastic from him. She piled her hair into her a bun on the top of her head and sighed. "I'm supposed to be at home right now. In air conditioning. Relaxing."

"But yet here you are. You just couldn't resist coming to the hospital and sweating like crazy."

"Oh yeah. It's a dream come true. You caught me," she shut her locker and opened her mouth, getting cut off by her pager going off. "I gotta go. I'll see you around. Thanks for the help." She gave him a small smile and walked out of the locker room, wondering when she'd get a chance to give him some warning about her and Kenny.

In Victor's room, she was getting him ready for an x-ray. "I swear there's a bicep in there somewhere," he said.

"Oh trust me. It's in there. You wouldn't be able to move your arm if it wasn't."

"Vic, if you wanna improve your muscle mass, you gotta up your protein," his cousin said.

"I already eat like two protein shakes a day."

"I know, but you eat way too much fat. Your diet's all messed up. You should've seen this guy when we were touring in Mexico. He hit up every taco stand he could find. Carnitas day and night."

"Well, some people have a high metabolism. Sometimes it's lifestyle, sometimes it's genetics."

"I guess I just didn't get the genes," Victor said. "I wish I was more like my cousin. Strong, intimidating, a winner."

"Okay, well she's ready to shoot. Let's go stand over here," Rachel said. They stepped over to the side of the room where his fans noticed him inside the trauma room. "You never take that mask off in public?"

"No. Especially if I got fans following me around. I used to wrestle under a different name. El Diablo." Rachel looked up at him and started laughing. "You never heard of me?"

"I'm sorry. I'm a Lucha Libre newbie."

"Well, the people hated me and I didn't like it. So I laid low for awhile and reinvented myself."

"Sounds like something I just did. I went on sabbatical, disappeared for awhile."

Victor sat up in bed and started coughing.

"Let's do an AP lab of his chest and page RT for a breathing treatment." She put a mask on over his face to help him breathe better. "All right. Breathe."

Across the hospital, Finn was doing a spinal tap on his running patient. "Oh man," Puck said, walking into the room. "Heather, this is the last bag of ice. Every bed is taken with a heat stroke patient. I can't get a repair man here for another two hours. But never mind that," he said, looking at the patient. "I'm Dr. Puckerman."

"Hi. Normally I like to stand up when I meet new people, but there's a needle in my back."

"I see that."

Finn stood up and took off his mask. "Fever and rash, headache and vomiting. Bloodwork is clean."

"Meningitis."

"Sounds like it. But I don't know if it's bacterial or viral. Let's hope it's the latter."

"We should isolate her and start her on antibiotics just in case," Puck said.

"Isolate me?"

"It's just a precaution," Finn said. "You know, Georgia here is training to do a tough mudder," he said to Puck. "Dr. Puckerman's trying to get in shape. Perhaps you could give him some pointers."

"I got it covered," Puck said.

"You look a little scrawny to me," Georgia said.

"Listen, two months ago, I couldn't run for seven minutes. Now I can run for seven miles."

"That's pretty good. But let me guess – you hit a plateau."

"Give me a break. I just quit smoking, my mother lives with me."

"Oh," Georgia said. "You definitely get a pass."

Finn looked out the door and saw Annie walking in the hallway. "Can you send that up to micro?" he asked.

"I'm gonna get the isolation room started," Puck said.

"Georgia, I'll be back in a couple of minutes," Finn said. He walked out the door and walked down the hallway to Annie. "Hey. You okay?"

"Yeah. I just brought a girl in from the halfway house. Drying out from heroin and a heatwave don't mix."

"You need me to take a look at her?"

"No, she's dehydrated. Sam's giving her fluids. I'm gonna grab something from the cafeteria and head out. I'll see you later."

Finn nodded and turned around, seeing Jessica behind him. "What are you doing here?"

"I have an ENT who's using a new laser. I had to give him a refresher course. My job is getting old. I need to find something more challenging. Any chance you can sneak away? I just need five or 10 minutes tops."

"I wish but I've got a patient."

"Well, if you change your mind," she said, leaning in closer to him, "There's nothing between me and these pants. Nothing," she said, walking away.

Finn watched her walk away. "I believe that."

Back in Victor's room, Rachel was trying to get to the bottom of what was going on. "My cousin's had this cough for the last few weeks. He went on antibiotics twice and they didn't work."

"I heard him coughing at the match. It could be bronchitis or asthma." She looked at the x-rays that Kitty just brought in. "Okay, Victor? Your x-ray patterns are suggestive of TB. We're gonna have to get you and anyone else who was on that tour tested."

"That means you too, Matador," Kitty said as they walked away.

"Are you serious?"

"I'm always serious. Shouldn't we isolate both of them?"

"Yeah, but where? Finn already has a patient in isolation. If this is a bunch of people with tuberculosis, we are screwed."

In the OR, Kurt was starting surgery on Amelia. "How does a ring girl get messed up instead of a wrestler?" Kurt asked. "Removing a piece of lamina. Oh damn. Clot and bone fragments are blocking our access."

"Let's get it all cleaned out," Brody said.

"It's going to take too long to clear this out."

"And any delay with all this heat is too risky. Chance of infection is too high. We need another way in."

"We can go through the mouth. We can bypass the debris and cut the OR time in half."

"Through the mouth?" Brody said incredulously. "Have you done that before?"

"I assisted on the exact same procedure on a corporal in Bagram. He had shrapnel lodged on his second vertebrae."

"And it worked?"

"Yeah. I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty tricky. But if we don't, this girl will never walk again."

"I know you Army docs do stuff on the battlefield every day that we never try around here. Let's do it." He noticed the look on Kurt's face. "You okay?"

"Just remind me to never promise a patient anything again."

"4-0 vicryl," Brody said.

In one of the hallways, Rachel was giving Heather directions. "I need you to check every person in that waiting room who was on the tour for respiratory symptoms."

"Got it," Heather said, walking towards the waiting room.

Kitty ran up to Rachel and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey. I saw something you should know about but you'll be happy you didn't see it. Finn's hooking up with the new drug rep. The one with the 600 dollar stilettoes and Ducati."

"That's great," Rachel said a little too quickly. "I'm…I'm happy for him. You should never gossip so much. You never know if it's gonna come back and bite you in the ass."

"I wasn't gossiping," Kitty said. "This is all about sisterhood. I thought you'd wanna know."

"Well, thank you. But let's keep it between the two of us, okay? You have a patient," she said, pointing at the doors.

"Eighty-two-year-old female with heat exhaustion and syncope," Kenny said, coming into the hospital. "What's going on in here?" he asked, seeing everyone in the waiting room.

"Dante's nine circles of hell."

"Should you guys still be taking patients?"

"Puck's call," Kitty said, taking the patient to a trauma room.

Kenny took off his gloves and saw Rachel looking over a clipboard. "Hey. I thought you had the night off."

"I did until the audience decided to join in on the fighting and a crazy fan tried to kick me in the head," Rachel said, putting the clipboard down on the ledge of the nurses' station.

"Well, I'm glad you weren't kicked in the head."

"Yeah, me too."

"Here, you might need this," Kenny said, taking a handheld battery powered fan out of his pocket.

"Oh," Rachel said, looking at it. "That's…sweet."

Kenny smiled at her and leaned down to kiss her, Rachel feeling her cheeks go red as she noticed Sam and Puck coming out of a patient's room.

"Okay, I'm at work," she said, pulling away. "I gotta go."

Sam turned to Puck. "Think Finn knows about those two?"

"I didn't know, so I doubt he has any idea. Not sure how he's gonna take it," Puck said.

"Finn's a big boy. He can handle it." He thought to himself. "Well, I didn't see anything."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Puck said, playing along.

The two of them walked past the nurses' station, where Jocelyn was standing. She gave Sam a sly smile and pinched his ass. "Oh!" he said, surprised by the sneak attack.

"Are you okay?" Puck asked.

"Yeah," Sam said. "I just got a cramp. In my…in my glute. Speaking of muscles, how's your bike training been going?"

"I did 40 minutes on the stationary bike yesterday."

"Tomorrow, I'm taking you outside on the terrain. Stay hydrated," Sam said, tossing him a water bottle.

Puck nodded and opened the bottle, taking a huge swig from it.

"Hey, uh, Puck?" Kenny asked, coming over to where he was standing.

"Hey, Kenny."

"Should we be rerouting patients to another hospital?"

"I called St. Luke's. They're just as slammed. Could you and a couple of your guys bring as much ice as you can get your hands on? If you have any extra fans at the station, bring those as well."

"Yeah, sure," Kenny said, walking out of the hospital.

Across the hospital, Artie was walking into Kitty's patient's room. "I have your patient's labs."

"You're a lab tech now?" Kitty asked, not taking her eyes off of what she was doing. "No wonder you couldn't hack the ER."

"I was coming to check on…you know what? Do you want your patient's TB results or not? Because they're negative."

"So I'm good?' Victor asked.

"We'll still send this off in case it was a false negative. Anything else? Maybe you'd like to pull up a chair, play some farm heroes on your phone?" Kitty asked as Victor started coughing. "Rachel!" Kitty called.

He took off his mask and spit out blood.

"I need an ultrasound," Rachel said. "It's okay. You're all right," she said, squirting the gel onto his stomach.

"His liver's bleeding. Let's get him to the OR," Artie said.

"Looks like you've got your first patient," Kitty said to him.

"Cousin! I'm praying for you, man."

"He has a cyst on his liver near the bleeding. It could complicate the surgery," Rachel said. "Artie, take care of this guy. He's special."

"I heard that," Victor said.

"You're in good hands, Victor."

"I already was."

"Brody's in OR two. Grab him," Artie said.

Rachel nodded and ran towards Brody's operating room.

In the other OR, Kurt and Brody were trying to help Amelia. "Okay, Brody, I've got my finger on the anterior tubercle. Grab it carefully with a Kocher."

"And pull volar traction," Brody said.

"Exactly. And one that's aligned, I'll place an odontoid screw," Kurt said.

"Dr. Weston?" a nurse said. "You're needed in OR one immediately."

"Don't worry, Brody," Kurt said. "I got this."

"If you need me, I'm 30 seconds away. Nurse, hold traction," he said to one of the nurses.

He walked out of the OR and started walking towards the other one, stopping when he saw Annie. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I brought someone in from the halfway house. Sam told me I'd find you up here. I have your wallet," she said, pulling it out of her purse.

"You could've given this to me later."

"I know. I just…I'm being kind of silly. I just really wanted to see you again."

"I'm really happy to see you. But I'm heading into surgery. Why don't you pick me up later and we'll go have breakfast?"

"Okay." Annie said.

Brody smiled and kissed her as Rachel was walking down the hall and saw the kiss. Brody saw her when he pulled away and swallowed thickly.

Annie smiled and turned around, coming face-to-face with Rachel. "Rachel. Hi."

"Hi," Rachel said.

"Brody and I just started dating."

"I see that," she said, walking away.

"It's very new. We haven't told anybody yet."

Rachel stopped walking and turned around to face Annie. "So that means Finn doesn't know?"

"I kinda wanted to…wait and see where things were going first. But I guess it looks like it's going someplace good."

"Okay," Rachel said, walking away.

Across the hospital, Finn walked into Georgia's isolation room with a smile on his face, which he hoped she'd be able to see through his mask. "I brought you another fan."

"Point it right at my face," she said, rolling onto her side so it would hit her better.

"Georgia, your cerebral spinal fluid was positive."

"I have meningitis?"

"Yeah. We're not sure what kind yet because the cultures haven't come back. Hopefully, it's just viral so it'll go away. You okay?" he asked, noticing a weird expression on her face.

"My chest hurts," she said, gripping at her chest. "I can't breathe."

"What's going on?" Puck asked, walking by and hearing the beeps.

Finn got her an oxygen mask. "She's having a heart attack."

"I'll page cardiology," he said, leaving the room.

"That's it, it's okay," Finn said to Georgia, trying to reassure her.

A little while later, Rachel walked into Victor's surgery. "How's it going?" she asked, putting a mask over her mouth and nose.

"We're almost done here," Artie said.

"We repaired the lacerated liver and removed the cyst," Brody said as the heart rate monitor started beeping.

"Blood pressure's down to 72 systolic," Artie said.

"He must be bleeding somewhere," Brody said.

"The field looks dry," Artie said.

"Did you check behind the liver?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, I did already," Brody snapped.

"He's down to 58," Artie said.

"We're gonna lose him," Rachel said, putting on a pair of gloves.

Back in Georgia's room, Puck gave Finn an update. "Cardiology has someone in the cath lab so she'll be up next."

"Okay. I just started heparin and a nitro drip."

"We're missing something," Puck said, walking into the room. "Meningitis doesn't cause heart attacks."

"Unless the same virus is attacking her heart," Finn said.

"But her viral panel was normal."

"Puck, look at the skin on her hands," he said, picking up one of her hands.

"What the hell? It's peeling off."

Finn shined light in her eyes and took off her oxygen mask. He opened her mouth and they saw how bright red her tongue was. "Conjunctivitis, skin shedding, strawberry tongue. It's Kawasaki disease."

"The diffuse inflammatory reaction could explain the multiple symptoms."

"Yeah. And it causes aneurysms of the coronary arteries, which would explain the heart attack. Forget cardiology, she's gotta get to the OR for bypass surgery. Puck, I'll take her right up," he said, getting her ready for transport.

In Victor's OR, it wasn't going well for him. "Crit is stable," Artie said.

"So he's not bleeding," Brody said.

"Levophed is maxed out. It's not working," Rachel said.

"Maybe he's septic?" Artie asked.

"No, white count and temperature are normal."

"It could be an adrenal issue. Can we get the films back up?" Brody said.

"Hold on," Rachel said. "He was traveling in Mexico for about a month. His cousin said he was eating pork like it was going out of style." She looked up and looked between Artie and Brody. "Parasites?"

"Hand me the specimen container with the cyst," Brody said. He held it up to the light and Rachel looked at it with him. "Look at those suckers. Unbelievable."

"He's in anaphylactic shock from the parasites pouring into his abdomen."

"He's crashing," Artie said.

"We've gotta stop this reaction. We need to irrigate."

"Hand me an epi now," Rachel said. She put the meds in his system and they waited. "Come on, come on," she said. She looked at the monitor. "BP's up."

"That was close," Artie said.

"Almost too close. Nice work, Artie. You good to close?" Brody asked.

Outside of one the ORs, Finn met up with Puck. "Hey. What's going on?"

"I could be hallucinating from the heat but I think Kurt's doing a spinal surgery through a patient's mouth."

"The mouth?" Finn asked, walking closer to the OR. "Where'd he learn to do that?"

"It's the Major that he worked with during his last deployment. She made a real impression." He turned and faced Finn. "Guess our little boy's growing up."

"I guess so," Finn said, smiling.

"How's Georgia?"

"So far so good. Surgeon thinks we got it in time. The heatwave ended up saving her life."

"You know the paramedic, Kenny?" Puck asked, not sure if he wanted to start this conversation. "Rachel's seeing him. I didn't want you to hear it from one of the nurses."

"Seemed like a nice guy," Finn said, not looking at Puck. "I moved on. I want her to be happy."

"You really moved on?" Puck asked.

"Mmhmm. Hardest thing I've ever done." He thought to himself for a second and walked away.

Across the hospital, everyone was coming out of Victor's OR. "Hydatid cyst. It's crazy," Rachel said, putting her stethoscope around her neck.

"I haven't seen one of those since residency," Brody said.

"Well, thanks for pulling out all the stops," she said, walking away.

"Hey, whatever you want to say, just say it, Rachel."

She sighed and turned around to face him. "I think you're making a huge mistake getting involved with Annie."

"Do you?"

"Yes. I know she's sober and she's trying to be a better person, but I have seen her go down that path a hundred times before. It never works out."

"So you're an expert on all things Annie?"

"I've known the woman for 10 years. She stole from Finn."

"Yeah and she came back and she's been trying to make it up to him. Do you have any idea how hard that was for her to do?" Brody sighed. "She makes me happy, Rachel."

"For now. I'm just worried she's going to break your heart."

"Well you don't have to be a recovering alcoholic to break somebody's heart."

In Amelia's hospital room, she was starting to wake up from surgery. "Hi, Amelia. I'm Dr. Weston. I assisted Dr. Hummel in your surgery. Can you try something for me? Can you try wiggling your fingers?" Brody and Kurt watch as she slowly moved her fingers.

"What about your left hand?" Kurt asked. Amelia smiled and did the same with her other hand. "How about your toes?" he asked, running something on the bottoms of her feet.

"I can feel that," she whispered, her smile growing.

"I think that deserves a yay," Kurt said.

"Yay," Brody said.

"I was talking to Amelia."

"Oh. Well, with a little rest and rehab, you'll be good as new," Brody said.

"Thank you," Amelia said. "Thank you so much."

Across the hospital, Kitty was bandaging Victor's arm. "How are you feeling?"

"A little out of it. But the pain's better though."

"But you're never going to eat pork again. I know I'm not."

"Oh, hey," Victor said as Rachel walked in. "There's the best doctor in San Antonio. And the cutest. No offense," he said, turning to Kitty.

"Oh it's okay. I'm saving myself for The One."

"Well obviously someone is feeling better," Rachel said, smiling at him. "You are going to have to take an anti-parasitic pill for the next few weeks, but you should make a full recovery."

"So the parasites gave him that cough?"

"Yeah, he had an autoimmune response to the parasite which caused areas of swelling in his lungs. That parasite is why you couldn't gain weight," Rachel said to him.

"Awesome. So I can put on some muscle now?"

"Yes," Rachel said.

"Hey, doc," his cousin said, following her to another part of the room. "So, what are the chances that Victor's going to bulk up like me?"

"Slim. With his physiology, it would take a lot of work."

"He wants to be aluchador so bad. And after everything he's been through…I just wish there was something we could do, you know, to make him feel like the man. You know what I mean?"

"I have an idea," Rachel said.

In Georgia's room, they were giving her an update about what happened. "So my body's attacking itself?"

"Yes. But the medication will stop the process," Finn said.

"The surgeon said that the damage to your heart was minimal," Puck said.

"We rarely see this disease in adults."

"So I'm a freak of nature?" Georgia joked.

"I'd say you're special," Finn said, winking at her.

"Can I still train for the tough mudder? Because I can't go back to sitting on my couch eating my weight in Oreos."

"Well, you have to keep a close eye on your heart but it shouldn't stop you from living your life."

"You can continue to torment yourself with exercise and clean eating and whatnot," Puck said.

"Dr. Puckerman, you need to change your mindset."

"Right, Puck. Once you make a change, you never go back," Finn said.

"Hey, Finn, you got a minute?" Brody asked, coming into the room.

"Sure," he said. He turned his attention to Georgia. "You all good?"

"Yeah."

He smiled at her and followed Brody out of room.

In another hallway, Victor was wearing his cousin's wrestling mask as Rachel was pushing him throughout the hospital and girls were crowding around his bed, asking for his autograph.

"I love you so much, Matador. Will you sign my boob?"

"Okay," Rachel said. "El Matador needs his rest," she said, pushing the bed back to his hospital room.

"That was the greatest five minutes of my life. But you could have let me sign her boobs."

"Step too far, buddy."

"All clear?" the real El Matador asked, peeking out from a curtain they'd drawn so he could hide his identity.

"Wait," Heather said, looking at him. "You're El Matador? You're El Diablo. I hated you. You were the worst," she said, walking out of the room.

"You see," he said, taking back his mask. "One good deed." He shook his head and put his mask back on.

In the locker room, Brody was talking to Finn about his relationship with Annie. "I understand if you're not jumping for joy over this. But I swear to you, I have Annie's best interests at heart. And I know this is probably weird for you or awkward or a bunch of other adjectives. I don't know. I just wanted to tell you myself. Man to man." He nodded and started walking out of the locker room before turning back around. "And try not to be too hard on Annie for not telling you first. She was just really concerned about how you'd react. She thinks of you as her only family."

"Thanks, Brody," Finn said as Brody left the locker room.

At the nurses' station, Kurt was drinking a bottle of water as Puck came up to him. "Epic save on the C-spine trauma."

"Thanks," Kurt said, getting up from where he was sitting.

"You know, we saw some messed up things over there," Puck said. "At the end of the day, it makes us better doctors."

Across the nurses' station, Artie was standing in front of a fan to cool down. He heard someone approaching and shook his head. "I'm not moving," he said, not bothering to turn around and look to see who it was. He heard someone tapping their foot and turned around to see Kitty standing there. She held out a popsicle to him. "You poison it?"

"I thought about it. But a woman using poison as a murder weapon is so cliché. Nice job with Victor today."

"You know, it may not seem like I do much around here, but surgeons are there when the stakes are the highest."

"Yeah, I know. Surgeons are kings."

"I don't know about kings. If Rachel hadn't been there to help, we would've lost Victor. I'm just saying that when we're together as a team, that's when we save lives. What I'm trying to impart is that—" He stopped talking when Kitty took a bite from his popsicle instead of hers. "Oh my god. Oh my god. Why would you do that?"

"You said we're a team. I decided I liked yours better. You really have to loosen up, Artie. You're so rigid."

"I'm not rigid. That was gross. This is my popsicle," he said as they heard a noise coming from the vents, indicating the AC was turning back on.

"Sure, now it works."

"Hey," Rachel said, smiling at them as she walked up. She grabbed the popsicle from Artie's hands and took a bite from the top.

"What?"

"Can I talk to you for a second," Rachel said, pulling Kitty away from Artie. "Okay, I feel like things are moving way too fast with Kenny. So, about those dating apps that you're using. Can you, um, tell me about them?"

"I'll text you a list, but here's the deal. It's a numbers game, so don't take anything personally. Always swipe right on the maybes because they may be hotter in person. Only meet for coffee or a drink but make sure the bar has food in case the guy doesn't suck. If you don't want to slip back into serial monogamy, keep it to a two-date minimum. Time for you to have some fun, Rachel."

"Okay," she said, looking at the doors to see Finn standing there. "I couldn't agree more. I'll see you," she said, walking over towards the exit so she could talk to Finn. "Kawasaki disease in an adult?" she asked, following him outside.

"Yeah," he said, grabbing his motorcycle helmet as he threw his bag over his shoulder. "Hydatid liver cyst. That's pretty cool."

"This night was bananas with a capital B."

"So, you and Kenny?"

"Yeah," she said, swallowing. "It's casual. Taking it day by day. You and Jessica?" she said, looking out in the parking lot, seeing Jessica waiting by Finn's bike.

"For now," he said, shrugging. "You know me."

"I do. So that's happening," she said, looking at Brody and Annie walking out of the hospital together.

"Yeah. He told me. Man to man."

"Man to man, huh? How do you feel about it?"

"I hate it," Finn said quickly. "He's arrogant. Egotistical."

"I used to date the guy and he happens to be pretty great. Annie, however, is a walking therapy session."

"Hey, that's my family you're talking about," Finn said with a smile. "So she's not the most stable. But who is?"

"She stole your TV."

He shrugged. "Gave me an excuse to buy a new one."

Rachel smiled and sighed when she saw Kenny pull up. "I gotta go."

"Yeah," Finn said. "Me too."

"Hey," Rachel said, walking over to Kenny's car.

"Hi. I think I made you too many omelets. How do you feel about huevos rancheros?"

Rachel sighed and shut the door to his Jeep. "We gotta talk."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: By The Dawn's Early Light**

"The shift has barely started and I'm already sweating my butt off," Kitty complained to Rachel.

"You hit the gym?" she asked.

"I tried. But the lot was full. Some jackass in a BMW parked crooked and took the last two spaces. I had to park on the street and walk in this humidity."

Rachel gave a knowing look to Artie, who was standing near them at the nurses' station. "Look, it's not my fault those spaces are so small," Artie said. "You know, it's like you have to drive a Prius in order to get out of your car."

"Wait, you drive a BMW?" Kitty asked. "That BMW?"

"Maybe if you got here a little earlier, you'd get a better space," Artie said. "Interns should be the first to arrive and the last to leave, in my humble opinion."

"Oh my god you are so annoying."

"Hey, you know what," Rachel said, butting in. "Get along. Don't make me separate the two of you." She looked up and saw Brody walking past. "Hey, Brody. Um, do you have a minute?

"What's up?"

"I, um, I wanted to apologize to you for what I said about Annie."

"You know what? Let's keep our personal and our professional matters separate. It's better that way," he said, walking away.

Outside the hospital, Finn pulled up on his motorcycle as Puck was jogging. "Whoa. You look like you just went five rounds with Nate Diaz," Finn said.

"It's worse. Sam's crushing me with this training. Why don't you join us?"

"I'll let you two play together," he said, taking off his helmet. "So, Sam's new physical regime is really working out, huh?"

"It's unbelievable. No more panting upstairs or back pain picking up the twins. I feel great. Ten years younger."

"Yeah, too bad you don't look the part."

Across town, a festival was happening in San Antonio and there were large crowds of people gathered around listening to a cover band.

"You have to see this," Syd said, handing Kurt her phone. "I surprised Riley at school when I got back. Watch her freak out," she said, showing him the video of Riley running over to her mom with tears on her face. "We both cried like babies."

"Well, yeah, you know, I'm gonna cry. I love these parent/soldier reunions."

Riley came running over to where Kurt and Syd were sitting. "Hey, Mom? Can I spend the night at Elise's house tonight?"

"We'll talk about it later," Syd said, putting her phone back in her pocket.

"But…"

"After the fireworks. Got it?"

"Got it."

"You know I love you."

"I love you too, Mom," Riley said, giving her a hug. "Hold on, let me straighten your ribbon." She fixed it and smiled as Riley ran back over to her friends.

"So, how's it been coming back?" Kurt asked.

"I'm just trying to get back into the flow of things with Riley. I feel like I've missed so much. And I can't thank you enough for all that you've done for her."

"It's the least I can do. We've been having a ton of fun. I know she's happy you're back. And so am I."

"I'm not so sure her father is. He's gotten accustomed to having his own way in my absence and, uh…"

"But that's not the way it works, right?" Kurt asked. "I mean, you both get a say."

Suddenly, fireworks started exploding next to the stage and they both looked at their watches. "That's early," Syd said.

"Yeah, it's very early."

One round of the fireworks started swirling around and started hitting the grass, sending explosions through the park. "Riley!" Syd called. "Riley!"

Back at the hospital, Kitty was looking over a patient's chart. "Have you seen Artie?" Sam asked, coming up to her.

"Thankfully no. You need something?"

"Only his company for a Spurs-Warriors preseason game tomorrow afternoon. One of my clients at the gym gave me front row seats," he said, putting the tickets down on the ledge.

"Well, maybe his chauffeur can drive you there in his Beemer."

Sam looked up as someone brushed past the two of them. "Hey there. Easy old-timer. You lost?"

"I'm not lost. This is the ER, ain't it?"

"Okay, calm down," Sam said. "What's your name?"

"Harold. Everything hurts."

"Where does it hurt, Harold?" Kitty asked.

"In my knee, in my chest, in my head. I just need something to make the pain go away."

"I've heard that one before. Let me show you to our waiting room," Sam said.

"I can't wait," he said, tripping over his feet, sending the contents of his backpack flying everywhere.

"You okay?" Sam asked.

"I just told you, it hurts all over. I just need to sit down for a second and rest," he said, getting helped up by Kitty and Sam.

"We'll take care of you, Harold," Kitty said. "Take him to exam one."

"Look," Sam said, "He's probably just looking to score some drugs and grub, so treat him quick and move him out."

"Listen up, people," Puck said, hanging up the phone. "We have a fireworks fiasco out at Woodlawn Park. Fire captain says it's an active situation. Multiple casualties."

"Isn't Kurt out there?" Rachel asked.

"I'm sure he's already helping," Puck said. "Rachel, you're in charge. Finn, you're coming with me. Chopper will have us there in 10 minutes."

"I'll call the pilot," Finn said.

"I already did."

At the park, many of the fireworks were still going off and hitting the ground, sending people everywhere running. "Riley!" Syd yelled.

"Riley, where are you?" Kurt yelled.

"She went that way," Syd said, pointing.

"I'm right behind you."

Syd looked down and saw Riley's red ribbon that was in her hair lying on the ground. "Riley!" Syd called again.

"Mom! Kurt!" Riley yelled back. "Mom!" she said, running into her arms.

"Thank god. You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, running over to Kurt to give him a hug.

"Help!" someone called. "Help my daughter. Please."

Kurt and Syd shared a look. "You stay right behind me and I mean literally right behind me," Syd said to her daughter.

"Help my daughter," the woman said to Kurt when he got over to where they were.

"You get the mother and I'll get the daughter," Syd said.

"What's your name?" Kurt asked.

"Linda. Your daughter is in good hands, okay?"

"Darika, are you okay?" Linda asked.

"My name is Dr. Jennings," Syd said. "What's your name, sweetie?"

"Darika."

"Darika, you hang in there. I'm going to take care of you and everything's going to be all right."

Back at the hospital, Kitty was giving Harold his exam. "I dig the ink on your hand," she said, shining light in his eyes. "Where'd you get it? It looks familiar."

"It's been around for thousands of years."

"I'm more interested in the last few. That's a tag for a street artist named Yo-Yo. You know his work?"

"Intimately."

"I knew it! You're him."

"Hey, just shh," he said, putting a finger to his mouth.

"Your secret's safe with me, Yo-Yo," she said, tapping his knee to check his reflexes. He inhaled sharply and Kitty pulled up the leg of his pants. "How long has this been swollen? A week maybe?" He gasped in pain as Kitty started to move it. "Is everything okay, doc?"

"We're going to need to run a few more tests."

"Hey," Sam said, coming into the exam room. "What's up with Mr. Total Body Pain? Can we discharge him?"

"No, he's got a swollen knee. I'm gonna need to tap the joint."

"We've got multiple incomings from the fireworks and you want to work with a guy with arthritis?"

"It could be a septic joint."

"Do me a favor. Give him some Motrin and refer him to a walk-in clinic and send him on his way. I'm begging you," Sam said, walking out the room.

At the park, Kurt heard a helicopter and looked above him to see one flying in. "That's our chopper. Help should be here soon," he said, pouring water on Linda's bloody and burned arm.

"Riley, how you doing?" Syd asked.

"I'm…I'm fine."

"It's not much longer, okay?"

"Syd?" Kurt said. "We're gonna be right back. Just stay here," he said, turning his attention to Linda and Darika. The two of them stepped a few paces away so they'd be out of earshot. "From what I can tell, she's got full thickness burns on her upper arm and torso."

"Girl has multiple penetrating wounds to her neck and her face. I'm worried about her airway."

"Kurt!" Puck called out.

"Over here!" he called out. Puck and Finn ran to where they were standing. "Dr. Noah Puckerman and Dr. Finn Hudson from my hospital. This is Dr. Syd Jennings, the orthopedist I worked with in Bagram."

"Nice to meet you," Finn said.

"Heard good things. What happened?" Puck asked.

"Fireworks meant for the end of the concert went haywire in the middle. Got lots of potential blast injuries," Syd said.

"You guys take your patients. Chopper's right over the hill. Send it right back when you land," Puck said.

"What about Syd?" Kurt asked. "She doesn't have privileges."

Puck tapped Syd on the head and the shoulders. "Privileged. I'll email the board. Just go."

"Puck, we need to set up triage," Finn said, looking around.

"Set it up. I'll start herding patients your way."

Finn sighed as he looked around.

At the hospital, Kitty walked up to the nurses' station and sighed when she saw Artie. "Hey, Artie? I need your help tapping a patient's knee."

"You need my help? Like, Artie Abrams?"

"Are you going to do it or not?"

"Sure. It certainly seems like you need me."

"Yo, Artie. Court side seats for the Splash Brothers tomorrow," Sam said, holding up the tickets. "You down?"

"I'm working," Artie said.

"Get someone to cover it."

"I'm sorry, I can't. I'm already covering for somebody."

Sam frowned and walked over to the nurses' station, where Jocelyn was standing with a hopeful look on her face. "Man, I thought he would have jumped on those tickets," he said. "How would anyone not want to go to this game?"

"You just need to find someone who's not working tomorrow and loves basketball."

"It shouldn't be too hard, should it. I'll find somebody," he said, walking away.

Back at the park, someone was making an announcement. "Listen up!" she yelled. "Everyone remain calm. Everyone will be treated and more help is on the way."

"Just hold this against your eye until we get to the ER, okay?" Finn said to someone.

"Am I going to lose my eye?" he asked.

"Not if you don't move. Next," he said.

"We've got to get these people back! There's more fireworks on the truck," someone said. "They could blow any second!"

"Hey," Finn said. "Pipe down, okay? Otherwise, people are going to stampede in a panic and we'll have more injuries. How do you know there's more fireworks?"

"I was hired to tote the pyro engineer's payload. The rest is in my trailer."

"Where's your truck?"

"Same place I told the other doc."

"Which doc?" Finn asked.

"Wiry guy. I told him the engineer had the fireworks set up East Coast time. That's why they went off early before they were ready."

"Which way?" Finn asked, looking around.

"Over on the hill," he said, pointing.

Finn looked and saw Puck running towards the truck with an extinguisher in his hands. "Puck, get back!" he called as the truck exploded. Finn watched with wide eyes as Puck was blown backwards. "Puck!" he yelled.

Puck put his hand to his head and squeezed his eyes shut, hoping it would make the ringing sound go away. He saw Finn standing over him and it looked like he was saying something. "You okay?" Finn asked.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm good."

"My ass you're good," Finn said. "I'd slap you myself if you hadn't already had your bell rung. How stupid can you be?" He helped Puck up and they went over to the guy who was trying to put out the fire in the truck before it exploded. "His pulse is weak. We gotta stop the bleeding. You tie off his arm and I got the gut." Finn said. He looked over at Puck and frowned. "You okay?"

"I'm good. I got it."

"You sure?"

"You take care of your business and I'll take care of mine. We're going to have to prep him for exfill."

"He's lost a lot of blood."

"He tried to save others. We can do the same for him. He goes."

"A little help!" some of the paramedics called when they got back to the hospital.

"This is Dr. Berry, ER attending, and Dr. Weston, head trauma surgeon," Kurt said to Syd when they got to the hospital. "This is Syd Jennings, the orthopod I worked with overseas. Puck has blessed her off, so she's got privileges."

"Army doc," Brody said, putting on gloves. "If you all are so great, why does the military keep getting rid of you?"

"Trust me, the last place I want to be tonight is a hospital," Syd said.

"What do we got?" Rachel asked.

"Forty-one-year-old female, tachy in the 130s. Second and third degree burns to the right arm and upper back, estimating 14 percent body surface area involvement."

Brody and Rachel nodded, turning to the gurney Kurt was standing by. "Teenage female. She has secondary blast injuries to the face and neck. Stats are holding but mildly increased respiratory."

"The mother's burn on her forearm goes all the way down to the tendon. I want to make sure she gets in there ASAP," Syd said.

"Okay, I'll call up to the OR and tell them you're coming right up."

"I could use another scalpel. Debriding the whole upper back is involved."

"Count me in," Brody said. "Kurt?"

"I'm gonna take the daughter. I'm going to trauma one."

Syd took Riley aside as Linda and Darika were being moved. "Sweetie, here's some money. I want you to—"

"Grab some food and sit tight," Riley said.

"I'm sorry. I just…"

"It's your job. I know, Mom."

"I promise I will make it up to you."

"I've heard it a million times. It's fine. Now go save people."

Syd sighed and kissed Riley's forehead. "Don't leave the building," she said, running off.

"Darika, where's my daughter?" Linda asked as she was getting wheeled to the OR.

"She's in very good hands with Dr. Hummel. We're gonna update you every 15 minutes, okay? The best thing you can do for her right now is recover," Syd said.

"It really hurts."

"Push more Dilaudid," Brody said.

"I don't know what happened. I heard the explosion and I just knew I had to find Darika but I found her too late."

"No, you found her, Linda," Syd said, trying to calm her down. "She's safe now because of you."

"So, the fire melted your shirt into your back and into the soft tissue of your forearms. So we need to remove that along with any necrotic tissue before infection sets in."

"No, I have to be able to work. Am I going to lose my arm?"

"Not if I can help it," Syd said.

"Is there anyone we can call?"

"No, my husband died five years ago. It's been me and Darika against the world ever since. I guess the world won today."

"The game's not over," Syd said. "You and your girl are gonna get through this."

"Not if I can't work. I'm a seamstress. I need my hands."

"Hey, Linda, is the place you worked at Ranger Ray's?"

"Yes."

"I figured. It's the best shop in town. I used to bring my husband's uniforms there."

"Why'd you stop?"

"Well, I'm a single mom too. Just divorce, not death."

"It doesn't matter how you get there," Linda said. "Alone is a miserable place."

"You are not alone here, Linda," Brody said. "We're gonna do everything we can for you."

"Please do whatever you have to."

"Well, let's get started then," Syd said when they got to the OR.

"This will all be over soon, Darika," Kurt said in the trauma room where he was with the girl and Rachel.

"How's it going?" Riley asked, coming in.

"It sucks, it hurts and it's scary," Darika said.

"Riles, we're not done working here. We need a little more time," Kurt said. "Your mom gave you some money, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Go spend it," he whispered.

"Okay, honey, I'm gonna need you to hold still the best you can," Rachel said as her and Kurt worked to get the shrapnel taken out of her back and neck. "None of the shrapnel is too deep, but it's in a lot of pieces, so it might take awhile to get out."

Darika sighed and put her glasses back on. "Hey," Kurt said. "You were lucky to have those on. Probably saved your vision."

"For the first and only time in my life. Kids are always teasing me about them and calling me CBG – Coke bottle glasses."

"I'm sorry," Rachel said. "You know, kids can be cruel. But you're safe here, so try and relax and we'll get you fixed up."

"Relax? My mom's in surgery and you're digging in my neck. How can I relax?"

"Kurt…" Riley said, coming into the trauma room.

"Riles, what are you—"

"I brought something for Darika. There's this show on YouTube that's all about cereal. It's hilarious. I thought we could watch a few episodes with my headphones while she's getting worked on."

"Can I?" Darika asked.

"I think it's an excellent idea," Rachel said.

Kurt sighed. "Come on," he said.

Rachel waited until they had the headphones in before she started talking. "Pretty cool kid. Just came in here all on her own to help our patient."

"The apple never falls far from the tree."

In Harold's room, he was working on a drawing while Kitty and Artie tapped his knee. "That don't look good but it sure feels better," he said.

"We'll get this to the lab and see what it says," Artie said.

"It's amazing you can paint like that while getting your knee drained," Kitty said.

"Well, if it's in your soul, you can do anything."

"Painting used to be in my soul. I wanted to be an artist."

"Dr. Wilde, why don't you pay more attention to what I'm doing?" Artie said. "Or you might have to go back to being an artist. Uh, no offense."

"None taken," Harold said.

"Needle inserted one centimeter medial to the superior third of the patella. Relax, Artie. I was watching. You're a pretty good teacher."

"Thank you."

"When your mouth doesn't ruin it," Kitty added.

"She got you there," Harold said.

"Okay. Let's go ahead and get these to the lab, then. We'll be right back, sir."

"I'll try to survive," he said dryly.

"So," Artie said as they walked out of Harold's room. "Were you really an artist?"

"Yeah. I gave painting a go once. But my community needed better medical care than abstract art so here I am."

"I didn't have a choice either," Artie said. "My entire family is in medicine. Surgery, actually. Anything else is looked down upon."

"Sounds like a lot of pressure. Maybe that's why you're such a dick sometimes," Kitty said, Artie giving her a look. "Oh, come on. I said sometimes. Not all the time. What did I tell you about being so serious?"

"Okay, I am not always so serious. And I will have you know, I used to be an artist as well."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. Fourth grade drawing contest. I drew a sailboat. Won third place _and_ a ride on the fire truck."

"Look at that, you made a joke. Do you still have the picture?"

"No, I think it got lost in a move or something. It's kinda the only artistic thing I've ever done," he said, waiting for the elevator. "Wish I'd kept it."

At the front of the hospital, Rachel met up with Finn and Puck. "What happened?" she asked.

"DOA. We tried. Too much trauma," Finn said.

"Somebody contact the morgue," Puck said.

"Well, I'm sure you guys did all you could," Rachel said.

"Maybe more than we should have," Finn said, looking over at Puck.

"Or maybe not enough."

"You nearly died trying to save him. Didn't do him any good, did it?" Finn asked as he kept walking.

Puck slowed down and felt the ringing in his ears come back from earlier. He gripped one of the curtains to keep from falling, but it did him no good as he fell to the tile floor.

"Give him some room," Finn said, running over to Puck, Rachel not far behind him.

"You okay?" Rachel asked, helping him sit up.

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Let me check your eyes," Rachel said, pulling out a small flashlight.

"I'm okay. Stop. Get that away from me," he said, knocking both Finn and Rachel's hands out of the way.

"Just relax and let me examine you," Finn said.

"I'm fine."

"Puck, you may have a tear in your ear drum."

"You just said I might have a tear in my ear drum. I can hear you just fine. I don't have an injury. I got knocked down. I'm already tired and I pushed myself too hard this morning with Sam. It's hot out and I'm dehydrated. I just need to drink water and I'll be good as new." Puck looked around and noticed everyone staring at him. "What is everyone looking at? We're overrun with patients and everyone's just standing around. Get back to work!"

Finn turned to Rachel. "I'm not wrong here. He needs to be examined, right?"

"He does. Just let him calm down first. We'll keep an eye on him."

Across the hospital, Kitty held a clipboard with Harold's test results. "I knew he wasn't faking. Fluid shows negatively birefringent crystals. He's got gout."

"Not so fast," Artie said. "Take a look at his chemistry. His kidneys are shutting down. Chloride, low potassium, it's through the roof. Gout doesn't cause any of that."

"So what does?"

"Nothing good."

They walked into Harold's room, where he was coughing and wheezing as he worked on a painting. "Hey, Harold. You look a little flushed," Kitty said.

"I told you. I just need some meds and I can be on my way."

"Well, you feel like you're running a fever," Artie said. He looked over and noticed he hadn't touched his dinner tray. "You're not hungry? When's the last time you ate something?"

"Everything tastes like cardboard these days."

"Okay," Artie said, grabbing something from the tray. "Can you smell this, Harold?"

"No," he said, pushing it away. He looked at his painting, licked his paint brush and put the brush back to the canvas.

"Uh, Harold, do you think I could take a look at some of your paints?"

"You leave them be!" Harold yelled. "They're the only thing I've got left."

"Okay. No problem," Artie said, taking one of the paints that was on the other side of Harold.

In the OR, Syd and Brody were finishing up. "Scissors," she said.

"Okay," Brody said. "I think we're looking pretty good."

"Stats are up and pressure is stable.

"Hey," Rachel said, pressing the intercom button outside of the OR. "Any updates on Linda beyond touch and go?"

Brody looked up and glared at her. "Yeah. We're closing now."

"Any other details?" Rachel asked. She waited a few minutes and sighed. "Brody, her daughter's asking."

"Well, you can tell her daughter things are looking better now. I'll be down as soon as we're finished."

"Thank you," she said, rolling her eyes as she left.

"Let's get a sterile dressing on that," Brody said, pointing to the spot they just debrided."

Rachel walked into the break room, hoping to get a moment's peace to down some coffee before taking care of more explosion victims.

"Hey," Finn said, walking into the break room. "I've been looking for you. Do you have a moment to talk?"

"Yeah," Rachel said, putting down the coffee cup. "What's up? Or have you come to yell at me too?"

"Yell at you? No. I'm worried about Puck. He's really not himself right now. I really don't think he should be making decisions right now."

"I know. How bad was the explosion?"

"It was bad, Rach. I haven't seen anything like it in a long time. And that one was nearly harmless."

"Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Anyway, I have a plan to get Puck the medical testing he needs tonight. You wanna help me out?"

"What's your plan?" Rachel asked. She listened to what his plan was and sighed. "He's not going to like it."

"I know. Are you in?"

She sighed again. "I'm in."

A few minutes later, Brody and Syd were scrubbing out. "Linda's lucky," she said. "Could have gone the other way. Nice work, Dr. Weston."

"You too, Dr…or is it Major Jennings?"

"Major for the next 34 days and then doctor after that. I'm leaving the Army."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Are you planning on staying in the San Antonio area? Because if you are, you're hired."

Syd laughed. "Wow. Really? Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"Nothing ever happens that fast in the Army. You gotta wait three months just to get permission to pee."

"I've heard the stories. But your technique is flawless. Seriously. And your bedside manner, well, it's pretty damn good for anyone, but for a surgeon, it's amazing."

"Well, it'd be hard not to feel for Linda. Right? But I do. I try to connect with my patients and not be a dick like most surgeons."

"So, what do you say? We could really use another orthopod around here."

"Let me think on it."

"Look, I know there are higher profile hospitals—"

"It's not that," she said, wiping her hands. "My life is a little in flux right now."

"Of course. I would imagine coming home that there's a lot to adjust to."

"Yeah. You find the world moves on like you were never even in it. Anyway, thank you for your very generous offer. I will seriously consider it," she said, throwing away the paper towel she was using.

"We…are…" Kurt said, making a cut to the stitches on Darika's face, "All finished."

"Can I see it?" she asked.

"Yeah." He dabbed at her face with one hand while his other hand looked for the mirror. He held it up to her face and smiled.

"Will I have a big scar?"

"It's too early to tell right now."

"Which means yes, right? So the kids at school won't make fun at my glasses anymore. They'll be too busy making fun of my face."

"Hey, hey, hey," Riley said. "If anybody says that in front of me, I'll tap them out."

"Slow down," Kurt said to Riley. "Darika, if you don't like the way your scar ends up looking, a plastic surgeon can make it look better."

"Plastic surgery?"

"Yeah."

"We can't afford that. I'm gonna be ugly forever."

"You are not ugly. Don't say that," Kurt said.

"Hey. You know what?" Riley said. "My dad's a plastic surgeon. I can give him a call and say he has to help out my new friend. He has to do it."

"Really?"

"Riley," Kurt cautioned.

"What? He's my dad. I know he will."

"Thank you!" Darika said.

"Hey, do you know not think you should check with your dad before making promises?"

"Don't worry. I know how to make him do what I want. All I have to tell him is that my mom doesn't think he'll do it. It works every time."

In the lobby, Puck was trying to put a patient's chart back in its slot, but was having trouble getting it in there. Eventually, he accidentally dropped it and it fell to the floor, making a clanking sound when it did. "You okay, Puck?" Sam asked, walking over.

Rachel looked over at Finn in his exam room and gave him a look.

"I wish this place wasn't so packed. I need faster patient turnaround, Sam," Puck said.

"I'm doing the best I can. It's been a crazy night."

"Don't tell me about the labor. Just show me the baby!"

"You've already got three kids. Why do you want another one?"

Puck shook his head and walked away. Finn looked back over at Rachel and gave her a slight head nod. "Hey, Puck?" Finn said, walking over to him. "You need to stop."

"How many times do I have to tell you I'm fine? Treat some patients."

"You're not fine. You passed out in the middle of the hallway. You look dizzy and you had a bleeding ear drum."

"Which is fine now."

"I don't think it is. You have to listen to me," Finn said, putting a hand on Puck's shoulder.

"Okay, I do not, Dr. Hudson, need to listen to you. See this badge," he said, gesturing to his hospital ID. "It says Emergency Room Chief. There seems to be some confusion. I tell you what to do. Not the other way around."

"Sure. In normal circumstances. This is not normal. Dr. Berry," Finn called.

"What the hell are you doing?" Puck asked, watching Rachel walk over.

"It is my professional opinion that Dr. Puckerman is currently unable to perform his duties," Finn said, ignoring Puck. "Do you concur?" he asked Rachel.

"I concur," she said.

"Rachel."

"I'm sorry, Puck. But this is for your own good. You're not well and you need to be checked out."

"Dr. Berry is now in charge of the shift, everybody," Finn said. "I'm shutting you down." Finn took Puck's badge off him and put it in his pocket.

"This is not happening," Puck said, walking off.

"Well, it just happened." Finn looked at Rachel and the two of them followed Puck.

"What is this?" he said, walking into a trauma room. "Caine Mutiny? You guys are embarrassing me."

"Well, you're doing a fine job of that yourself," Finn said.

"Puck, just check yourself in and we'll run some tests," Rachel said. "What's the harm."

"The harm is that we have a full ER and more patients than we can treat and my top two attendings are treating me like I have a sucking chest wound. I'm fine!"

"You're not fine!" Finn yelled back. "You're exhibiting signs of a traumatic brain injury. Irritability, moody, dizziness. You could have a brain bleed."

"I'm moody and irritable because you're treating me like I'm weak. Thank god I didn't role an ankle or you'd be putting me down like Old Yeller."

"This isn't about weakness, it's about physics," Finn said, raising his voice as Rachel crossed her arms. "You got blown up."

"And I got back up and did my job."

"There's a fine line between crazy and stupid and you crossed it by a mile."

"And you cross it all the time."

"I don't have all night to listen to this," Rachel said, stepping in before anything else could happen. "Finn, go treat your patients. Go," she said, waiting until he left the room before turning to Puck. "And you. Blood work and brain scan, right now."

"I'm not taking those damn tests."

"I'm not asking. You don't want to take care of yourself? We will. You wanna get cleared? You take the scans and you prove us wrong. Come on, I'll go with you."

"Great," Puck said, walking away. "I need someone to pull the knife out of my back."

In Linda's recovery room, Syd was working on something when she heard Linda start to cough. "How are you feeling, Linda?" she asked, walking over to the bed.

"In pain? Why is my chest so sore?"

"The blast shot shrapnel into your lungs. We had to get it out."

Linda looked around. "Where's my daughter? How is she?"

"Her injuries looked worse than what they were. She'll be fine."

"I thought I'd lost her," Linda said, sighing with relief.

"Yeah, but you didn't."

"For now. They get older, they have their own friends, their own ideas. They want to spend less time with you."

"Yeah, but that's why we have to make the time we do get to spend with them count."

"It seems like our time together is less and less. I've been working six days a week, 10 hours a day since my husband passed. I never thought I'd have to give up so much just to keep my daughter close."

Syd sighed. "You know, I don't always like to think of my time apart from Riley as given up. I like to think of it as an opportunity to inspire. We're both single, working moms. When our daughters look at us, they should be able to see strong, feminine role models that are capable of doing anything they set their minds to."

"I never thought of it that way."

"Now I just have to convince my ex."

"Your ex…was it a rough split?"

Syd thought to herself. "It wasn't any one thing, you know, one incident, really. We both joined the Army together as docs, but our careers quickly diverged. One of us was deployed three times, was highly decorated, was promoted to Major below the zone. The other was my ex."

"So he resents you?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. It's no one's fault. Just, uh, bad timing based on the needs of the Army. Unfortunately, our marriage suffered because of it."

"But not your child. And that's what's important. And you'd do anything for them."

"That's right. You do whatever it takes." Syd smiled at Linda and walked out of the room.

At the nurses' station, Artie was typing something into one of the computers as Kitty watched from behind him. "Wanna tell me why we perpetrated petty theft on a patient?" she asked.

"Yeah, I have a theory, but I really hope it's wrong."

"Artie Abrams hopes he's wrong. I never thought I'd see the day."

"Well, I hate to disappoint you, but it looks like that's not the case," he said, clicking on something. "Cadmium poisoning. Look."

"Is there a treatment?"

"Maybe. If we've caught it early enough. Come on," he said, shutting the laptop.

"Daddy," Riley said across the hall. "I met this really nice girl and she got a cut on her face. I was hoping you could really fix it," she said as Kurt walked up to her. "Come on." She listened to what her dad said on the other line. "Yeah, Mom's up in surgery. I'm at the hospital, hanging in the ER with Kurt. He's a friend of Mom's. Not that kind. He's gay and teaches me—"

"Let me talk to him for a second," Kurt said. He took the phone and put it up to his ear. "Hello, sir. This is Dr. Kurt Hummel. I served with your ex-wife. Listen…no, Riley's fine. Hold on and let me explain," he said, walking away, Riley following him.

Sam sighed as he walked up to the nurses' station. "Hey," Jocelyn said. "Any luck filling that extra seat to the Spurs game?"

"No. Kurt has to work too. I mean, it's a primo ticket and I can't even give it away. Can you believe that?"

"Sam, I want you to know that I want to go to the game with you."

"Oh. You…oh. I didn't know you liked basketball."

"Well, you never asked. I'm telling you now. I like basketball."

"You don't think it would be weird if we went?"

"Well, we could stop having sex and go back to being friends and coworkers. Would that make it easier for you?"

"Okay. I'll pick you up at noon. It's a date. I mean, it's not a date." He saw the look on Jocelyn's face. "Is it a date?"

"Oh jeez," she said. "I'll see you at noon, Sam."

Rachel got Puck up to a MRI machine and was trying to get him to get it done. "Puck, it's just due diligence. We have just as much responsibility to our patients as we do to each other."

"You have a responsibility to me as your boss. I make hundreds of tough calls each shift and I have subordinates questioning not only my judgment, but questioning me. That makes a hard just that much harder."

"I think you're confusing loyalty with integrity."

"I'm telling you, they're one and the same," Puck said. "Who stood by your side when you became ER Chief? Me. Who helped implement your unpopular policies from the day shift? I did. Not because I agreed or disagreed with what you were trying to do, but because it was the right thing. If you want to be a good leader, you learn to follow. You seemed to have skipped that step!"

"It is not my job to blindly follow. If I let you make one bad call, I am just as much to blame as you are. Now get on this table."

"I'm going to remember that next time you're in charge."

"You do that."

"Start the damn scan."

Syd waited outside the break room until Kurt came out. "You called my ex-husband?" she asked Kurt. "He just blindsided me."

"I'm not the one who called him."

"He had no idea that you even existed."

"Well, yeah, I get that now. I didn't know that when I was talking to him. You could have told me."

"Well, I didn't think you would ever have to talk to him. You picked up Riley from my mom's house because he hates Riley being a jock. He hates anything that reminds him of me. So Riley and I never told him about you because we knew he would put a stop to the jiujitsu."

"You should have told me."

"Well, you know what, I was a little busy. I can't control everything from 10,000 miles away. And I was still there, I might add, because of you."

"I would have stayed a year longer in your place and you know that. That was the general's call."

"You know what? If you hadn't gotten involved in that Sharbat's case, then I would never—"

"She was a 15-year-old girl, Syd."

"And I might lose my girl because of it," she said, walking away.

"What are you talking about?"

Syd turned around slowly. "My ex is suing for full custody of Riley."

"He can't do that."

"Yes he can, Kurt. He's got more money, he's got a second marriage that the courts view as a more secure home life than with some mom who's off in Afghanistan for half of the year."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"What am I going to do? I'm gonna grab my ankles and take it. I'm heading to DC."

"DC?"

"That's where he's moving. That's why he's suing for full custody. So he can leave without my permission."

"So we can fight."

"Kurt," she sighed.

"Get a job here. I'll vouch for you. I'll help take care of Riley," he said.

"I can't! I'm heading to DC until I can come up with a better plan. I have been away from Riley for way too long and I am not letting her leave without me."

"I still think that we need to—"

"There is no we!" she yelled. "Kurt, it is me and Riley. You are not part of this family, so stop acting like you have some kind of say. Because you don't." She turned around and saw Riley standing there.

"You're right. Sorry. Just trying to help."

"Well, you can't." Syd walked towards Riley and smoothed down some of her hair before kissing her forehead.

Finn walked around the hospital with two cups of coffee in his hand. He was trying to find Puck so he could apologize and find out what was going on. He walked past the locker rooms and saw him laying down on one of the benches and opened the door, balancing the coffees on top of each other. "Hey. You know I was only being a hard ass on you the way you are to me when I do something stupid, right?"

"Which is almost all of the time."

"Maybe I could have handled it a little better."

Puck sat up and looked at Finn. "Well, you definitely could have handled it better." He reached down and picked up his chart. "But you were right. No bleeding, but I have a bad concussion," he said, holding out the test results for Finn to see. He handed Finn the chart and accepted the coffee. "Thanks. I'll be riding the pine for a week."

"So, you promise next time, you won't step into the breach so soon without me?"

"Yeah. I learned my lesson. I'm not the man I used to be. Turned the corner from being in good shape to being in good shape for my age."

"So, what's wrong with that?" Finn asked, drinking from his coffee.

"I wanna be like I was when I was 25. That's why I was so pissed. It really hit home that I never will be."

"Puck, you can't compare yourself to who you were back then. Compare yourself to who you were a few months ago. You've changed your diet, upped your regimen. Few months ago, you got knocked out by a bum shoulder. Now it took a bomb blast. That makes you a stud."

"I'm like…a total stud."

"Total stud," Finn said, laughing. "You did say it changed your sex life with Quinn."

"It did. She says she likes to rub my burgeoning abs."

"I don't need that kind of image in my head. TMI. But, it proves my point. You're not gonna be the man you were as a 25-year-old Ranger. But you're still a badass 40-something."

"I got blowed up. And I'm still ticking. How many doctors can say that?"

"Not many. Not even the 20-something-year-olds. Get an Uber home, have Quinn do your…whatever. I'll see you in a week. Adios."

Inside Linda's recovery room, Darika, Rachel, Riley and Syd were there. "You're both expected to make a full recovery thanks to the quick thinking and actions of Drs. Hummel and Jennings," Rachel said.

"Thank you so much. For everything," Linda said. "I don't know how I can repay you. Or the hospital bill."

"Well, the first one, you don't have to," Syd said. "And the second one, we've contacted some Vet charities that are going to step in and help out."

"And, Riley, I believe you have some good news for Darika," Rachel said. "Excuse me," she said, leaving the room.

Riley turned to Darika. "My dad's going to do Darika's repair for free at his surgery center."

"Oh my god," Darika said. "You must have the greatest dad ever."

"I do," Riley said, turning towards Syd. "And the greatest mom too. I'm so glad you're moving too, Mom. I can't be without you anymore."

"You never will have to be again. I swear."

Artie walked into Harold's room. "Wow," he said, looking at a painting. "I didn't think anyone could do you justice."

"The man is a magician with a brush," Kitty said. "Will the chelation therapy help him?"

"I think it will. We got it early. Nice catch."

"Thank you, Artie."

"I live to serve."

"I mean it. No BS, no ball busting. You really came through."

"Anytime."

"Oh, I almost forgot," she said, handing him a piece of paper. It was a drawing of him on a sailboat.

He looked at it and smiled. "That's, uh, that's incredible. Harold is really an amazing artist."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Moron. I drew it. I'm the amazing artist."

"Oh."

"I did it as a thank you."

"Wow. That's so…that's…you did that? Thank you."

Kitty scoffed and walked out of the room.

Harold started laughing. "I'm full of poison and half asleep and even I could tell she likes you."

"No," Artie said quickly. "You think?"

Rachel pushed the elevator button and waited for it, sighing when it opened with Brody standing in there. Her shoulders slumped forward and she walked in, pressing a button. "All I wanted to do was apologize."

"And you did."

"Brody, I'm just…I'm concerned for you."

"You don't have to be."

"I just I don't understand what you're doing. I don't get it."

"Look, I had a really crappy year. You know that much. After the accident, I lost everything. And I don't mean the money. I mean, any sense of a normal life, because all I could think about was how Malik was never going to have a normal life again. I was at rock bottom and alone. Annie understands what it's like to be in that place. And she's really there for me now in a way that no one else has ever been." The door opened and Brody stepped out. "So, that's all anybody really needs to understand about it."

Outside of the hospital, Kurt was talking to Riley. "So, you knew you were moving and you didn't tell me? That's why you were being weird about the tournament?"

"I just didn't know. I was hoping I could make my dad do what I wanted, but it didn't work this time."

"Don't worry about it. Hey, look at me. DC's a cool place. You've got all that history there. You're gonna love it."

"But you're not gonna be there," Riley said, starting to get teary-eyed. "I'm really going to miss you," she said, giving him a hug.

"I'm gonna miss you too," Kurt said, feeling tears come to his eyes. "Know that, okay?"

Riley nodded and got in Syd's car. Syd looked over at Kurt and walked over, giving him a hug. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For what I said. I was so upset about what it meant to me that I forgot about what it would mean to you."

"It's okay," Kurt said, sniffing.

"No, it's not," Syd said, pulling away. "You were there for her when I couldn't be. You are a part of our family, you know?" She gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked back to her car, getting in on the driver's side.

Riley rolled down her window. "I'm gonna miss you, Kurt."

He watched the car drive off. "I'm gonna miss you too," he said, heading back inside the hospital.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: All In**

"Okay, people, shift is starting in five minutes," one of the nurses said.

"Enjoy your night off, Dr. Abrams. Keep your phone close by," Brody said to Artie as they rounded the corner by the nurses' station.

"You and Brody still aren't talking?" Kitty asked Rachel, noticing the look Brody gave Rachel.

"He has made it abundantly clear that he did not appreciate my opinion of he and Annie dating."

"You just said what everybody else is thinking. That's what friends do."

Rachel sighed. "It's more complicated than that."

"Complicated? It's Freudian. A hot, successful surgeon who can have his choice of women, yet he picks the ex-addict sister-in-law of a guy who he really doesn't like and who his last girlfriend hates."

"I don't _hate_ her."

"You ain't friends. I'm just saying, it's no coincidence on both their parts."

"Are you done with this little psychoanalysis of yours?"

"I've said my piece," Kitty said, walking away.

"Hey," Artie said, meeting up with Sam at the nurses' station before he left. "What was that top-secret nurses meeting today?"

"I don't know. I skipped it," Sam said. "I think it was just some union stuff. Bunch of contract negotiations or something like that. You off tonight?"

"I'm just on call. I'm actually sneaking out for a dinner date."

"Dinner date?" Kitty said, overhearing them. "That's nice. Is it in 1965?"

"Wait, on the first date? No, don't get stuck into dinner. The crazy comes out over dinner," Sam said.

"Look, I actually like to show a woman a good time, okay? If you'll excuse me, I need to go change."

"Thirty-one-year-old male, pain in the lower right quadrant since this morning," a paramedic said, bringing in a new patient.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Berry," Rachel said, meeting the paramedics at the front of the hospital.

"I'm Dylan. Ever heard of FOP?" the patient asked.

"Yeah, the connective tissue disorder?"

"That's me."

Rachel took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's carefully move him to trauma two. Any injury, even from a bump, can cause spontaneous bone growth. Am I right, Dylan?"

"You got it."

"Hey, Jocelyn, can you get us more pillows please?" Rachel asked as they slowly rolled Dylan to his trauma room.

Across the nurses' station, Finn gave Jessica one more kiss. "Duty calls," he said. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Don't keep me waiting," she said, winking at him. She walked around the nurses' station and stopped by where Puck was. "Good to see you back in action, Puck. How's your head feeling?"

"All good. Counting the days until that Hawaiian conference." He looked up and saw Quinn and his mother coming into the hospital. "Quinn? Mom? What happened?"

"I don't know," Quinn said. "She's acting weird. I thought you could take a look at her."

"Mom, how are you feeling?" Puck asked.

"I was just telling your father that I'm perfectly capable of crossing the street without him."

"Mom, Dad's been dead for years. What's going on?"

"I'm fine, Noah," she said, falling back against Quinn and Finn, who came over when he noticed Mrs. Puckerman wasn't looking so good.

"Let's get her into trauma one," Puck said.

"Hey, Finn," Sam said. "Nasty accident out on Highway 281. They need a doc to move the patient. Chopper's waiting. You want it?"

"Kurt, you want it?"

"I got it. Stick with Mama Puck." He turned to face Sam and Kitty. "I got it. Kitty, you're with me. Let's go."

"Alright, catch you later," Artie said, trying to get out of there before he could get pulled back into the hospital.

"Yo, Artie. Sorry, but there's an MVA coming in. Back to scrubs," Sam said.

"Fantastic," Artie said flatly.

In Puck's mom's room, they were working on getting her hooked up to machines. "She was a little out of it, but fine. And then on the way home, this," Quinn said.

"BP is 86 over 40," Mollie said.

"What does that mean?" Quinn asked.

"It's a little low," Finn said.

"It's really low. It could be heart failure, sepsis, adrenal insufficiency," Puck said, shining light into his mother's eyes.

"Or just dehydration," Finn said. "We're gonna run a panel of tests and we'll get it sorted out."

"BP's down to 64," Mollie said.

"She's crashing. Hang another liter," Puck said.

"Central line. She needs pressors now," Finn said.

"Mom? Mom! Mom, can you hear me?" He pressed a hand to her forehead.

Out at the scene of the accident, Kurt and Kitty jumped out of the helicopter. "What do we got?" Kurt asked.

"Rollover accident. Driver saw a deer, swerved and flipped the car into the ravine."

"How many victims?" Kitty asked.

"Two. Driver's a 38-year-old female with blunt abdominal trauma and laceration. Still in the car. Her daughter's out, but she's got a wrist injury. Name's Brianna."

"Please, if you just let me go, I can get her. Please!" Brianna said as one of the paramedics held her back.

"Hey, Brianna. I'm Dr. Hummel and this is Dr. Wilde. How are you doing?"

"My wrist hurts but she's still in there. Please, you have to get her!" she said, trying to get away from Kurt.

"Listen to me, I'm going to check on your mom right away."

"She's not my mom. She's my foster mom. Please don't let her die."

"I'm going to do everything I can."

"No!" Brianna said, running away from Kurt and Kitty.

"Kitty, let's keep her warm and get her checked out."

"Let's take a look at your wrist, okay?" Kitty said, sitting her down by the ambulance. "It hurts?" she asked.

Kurt ran over to where the car had swerved to check on the foster mother. "Somebody help me!"

"Avery?" Kurt asked. "I'm Dr. Hummel. We're going to get you out of here as soon as we can. Stay calm and slow your breathing." He turned to his side and saw Kitty was there. "This is Dr. Wilde."

"Where's Brianna?" Avery asked.

"I checked her, ma'am. I'm gonna go right back to be with her."

"Avery, I have to stop this bleeding," Kurt said. "You're going to feel a little pressure. Just keep breathing. You're doing great. Let's pack around this," he said to Kitty. "We stopped the bleeding, but we have to cut you out of here, okay? We're going to be right here." Kurt and Kitty moved out of the way and he turned towards the firefighters. "Let's get her out of here."

"I'll go stay with Brianna," Kitty said.

Kitty got over to Brianna as Avery started screaming. Brianna looked over at the car in horror. "Hey, Brianna," Kitty said. "It's gonna be okay."

Back at the hospital, Mrs. Puckerman was starting to come to again. "Mom, it's okay. You just passed out for a little bit," Puck said.

"BP's only up to 87," Mollie said.

"She's barely responding to pressors," Puck said. "What are we forgetting?"

"Any recent fevers?" Finn asked.

"No. What do you think? Brain-stem stroke?"

"A stroke?" Quinn asked. "Really?"

"It's unlikely, Puck. She's altered but…"

"I'm gonna clear the CT queue. Mom, we're gonna take you to have your brain scanned, okay?"

"I'm so tired," she said.

"Mollie, you on it?" Finn asked.

"Do you really think it's a stroke?" Quinn asked.

"It could be, but we're just not gonna take any chances. We're going to run every test," Finn said.

"Are we panicking?"

"I'll let you know if we get there."

"Thanks, Finn," she said, looking down at her mother-in-law. "He's not ready to lose her."

"You never are," Finn said.

In Dylan's trauma room, Rachel started pressing on his stomach and he started groaning. "Okay. Your pain could be from appendicitis, so I've called for a surgical consult."

"What about kidney stones?" he asked. "I get them all the time from the FOP."

"I'm gonna check for that too," Rachel said. "But we really don't want to miss an appy." She noticed Jocelyn was about to take his blood pressure. "Actually, can we do a pulse ox instead?" she asked. "Even pressure from a BP cuff can cause bone growth." She heard the trauma room door open and saw Brody walk in. "Brody, this is Dylan. He has FOP, which causes spontaneous—"

"I'm familiar with FOP," he said. "Hey, I'm Dr. Weston."

"Dylan presents with a few hours of lower right quadrant pain. I wanted a consult for appendicitis."

"Okay. Does this hurt here?" Brody asked, pressing on a spot on his stomach.

"More like here and all the way to my back," Dylan said, gesturing to where it hurt as Rachel took his temperature.

"What do you think? CT?" Rachel asked.

"I think you should have checked an ultrasound and called a urologist. It sounds more like kidney stones."

"Looks like you called it, Dylan," Rachel said, smiling at him.

"He's spiking a fever. 102.5," Jocelyn said.

"If it is kidney stones, they could be infected, so let's get a UA and send off a urine culture."

"If it is the kidney stones that are causing his fever…" Brody whispered.

"Yeah, I know. Surgery. And with FOP, that could kill him. Thank you, Dr. Weston," Rachel said.

Across town, Kurt was stitiching up Avery for temporary relief while they flew back to the hospital. "These sutures should hold until we get to the hospital," he yelled so he could be heard over the blades.

"Brianna's inhalers," Avery said. "Did you get them? They're in the car."

"We'll radio the ambulance and have them check."

"Tell them that she needs them. She has cystic fibrosis."

"I'll let them know."

"She seems like a good kid. Pretty cool under pressure," Kitty said.

"That's her. She's the best. She's so smart I can hardly keep up with her."

"How long has she been living with you?"

"Six months. But I knew within a week that I was gonna adopt her. We connected right from the start."

"The ambulance has the inhalers," Kurt said. "I'll check on her personally as soon as we get to the hospital."

"Thank god she's okay," Avery said. "Listen, promise me that you are going to take care of her. She acts tough, but she's just a kid."

"I'll do everything I can."

"I feel like I'm floating," Dylan said in the trauma room.

Rachel smiled. "Glad to see the pain meds are kicking in."

"That's the best part of being here. The hospitals have the good stuff."

"You spend a lot of time in hospitals?"

"Yeah. Since I was 13. At first, the doctors thought I had a tumor. So they went in and operated. Actually caused the tissue around the site to lock into bone. Then when I was a teenager, I messed up my shoulder pretty good."

"What happened?"

"I was an idiot and I tried skateboarding. I guess I was tired of hearing I was an inspiration just for putting my pants on in the morning. I didn't want to be the disability mascot anymore."

"So that's a no to the inspirational speech to the children's ward?"

"Hard pass."

"Just making sure," Rachel said, laughing a little.

"Okay, thank you. Leave it on the table just in case."

"I can do that."

"This is Dr. Park," Brody said, walking into the room with another doctor. "I've asked him for a urology consult."

"Oh great," Dylan said.

"I'm just going to take a look," Dr. Park said, lifting up Dylan's hospital gown. "Fascinating. I've never seen this in real life." He turned on the ultrasound machine. "The stone's causing moderate to severe hydronephrosis. With the infection, he needs surgery right away."

"No. I'm not doing surgery. Been there, done that. I'm not doing it."

"I think what Dylan is trying to say is that he'd like to avoid the risk of anesthesia," Rachel said. "Not to mention the permanent calcification of his urinary tract."

"Yeah, I for sure don't want that."

"None of that matters if he gets septic and dies," Dr. Park said. "Endoscopic surgery will minimize bone growth."

"There has to be other options besides surgery," Rachel said. "Can we at least consider…"

"You wanted my opinion and you have it. Surgery now, unless you want to risk sepsis and death."

"I'm not quite sure we're there yet," Brody said. "What about lithotripsy with antibiotics? We use the sound waves to break up the kidney stone and maybe those smaller pieces pass on their own."

"That sounds good to me," Dylan said.

"We're wasting time. His infection's only getting worse. I'm gonna let the OR know we're coming."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. No," Dylan said.

"Dr. Park, can I speak with you outside?" Rachel asked. She led the two doctors outside and folded her arms across her chest. "He wants lithotripsy. Why can't we at least try it?"

"You want me to sit here and wait a few hours until he's really unstable and then take him to the OR?"

"If the lithotripsy works, maybe he never even needs the OR," Brody said. "The patients wants it and his pressure is stable. Let's try it."

"Fine. But his chart will reflect my recommendation of surgery," he said, walking away.

"Thanks for backing me up," Rachel said.

"I'm backing Dylan up. He wants the lithotripsy. Go ahead and get him prepped and I'll run the machine."

"I'll let him know. You just made his night."

They went back into Dylan's room and started getting him prepped. "Whoa," he said. "Are you guys wearing enough layers?"

"This machine uses sound waves to help break up the kidney stone. It's much more likely you'll pass the pieces than one big stone," Brody said.

"In other words, I'm gonna pee out some rocks."

"That's one way of putting it."

"Rachel? Thanks for not going all end of the times on me with that other doctor," Dylan said.

"Yeah, he was a bit of a—"

"He was a dick."

"Okay, here we go," Brody said, pushing a button. He looked on the screen and saw an error warning flash. He hit the button again and it did the same thing. "Come on," he said, doing it multiple times.

"What's happening?" Rachel asked.

"This thing needs a complete reboot. Call the company and tell them to send a tech. Let me know when it's fixed."

"Well that blows," Dylan said. "Now what?"

"We get it fixed," Rachel said.

"And if not, surgery, right?"

"Don't worry. We'll get it fixed. Okay?"

"Okay."

At the front of the hospital, Kurt was bringing in Avery as the ambulance rolled up. "Brody, we need the OR," he said.

"Estimated blood loss?"

"At least three liters," Kitty said.

"I put in some sutures to slow the bleeding."

"OR one is prepped and ready to go," Artie said.

Kitty watched Artie and Brody take her to surgery as her and Kurt stayed behind. "I'm not liking the mom's odds. I'm gonna call the social worker."

"Good thinking. I'll be in with Brianna."

"Finn," Sam said on the other side of the nurses' station. "I've got another one coming in and asked for you by name. You want it?"

"Yeah, just while Puck is in CT. When those labs are back, will you call me?" Finn asked.

"You got it," Sam said.

Kitty covered the receiver on the phone. "Hey. Congrats, Sam."

"Congratulations on what?"

"I need your case manager," Kitty said.

In one of the exam rooms, Kurt was sitting with Brianna. "So, I know it's not the most comfortable thing in the world, but the splint will help your fracture heal."

"What's going on with my foster mom?" Brianna asked. "Is she gonna be okay?"

"We've got our top doctors working on her. As soon as I know more, I'll let you know. I promise. In the mean time, Nina, your social worker, is gonna come hang out with you."

"Oh. Okay."

"What's that? Do you not like her?"

"No. I do. She's pretty badass. But you wouldn't be calling her unless it was bad news about my foster mom. She always gets called in when it's bad news."

"That's not true. I mean, that's not the reason we called her. She's just gotta know what's going on."

"So you're saying my foster mom isn't going to die?"

"I'm saying that we don't know anything yet. We just gotta give those doctors some time. Okay?" He looked down at the book she was reading. "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I love this book. What part are you at?"

"I'm not at a part."

"You just started reading it? Nice."

"No, I've read it before. Like, a lot. It's pretty much my favorite book."

"It's pretty much my favorite book."

"I know what you're doing," Brianna scoffed. "You're just trying to distract me until Nina gets here. You don't have to."

"What if I don't want to? You ever think of that, Smarty Pants? So, let's talk about the book. First off, Edmund. I bet you like him the least, right?"

"Don't get me started." She started laughing, but the laughing turned into intense coughing.

In the radiology suite, Puck was imagining the worst case scenarios when it came to his mother. "What if it's a dissection? Heart failure? I know she's tough but…open heart surgery?"

"Come on," Quinn said, walking him towards the door. "You're driving yourself crazy. You can't let yourself go there until we have the results back."

"I complain about her constantly. I'm always short with her. She can't work the computer because she's old. I should be more patient with her. I just…I had to go to work."

"Hey," Quinn said. "We brought her into our home. And it was an adjustment. But we've done it. You are an amazing son. Don't beat yourself up over the little things."

"But what if, Quinn? What if my last chance to say something nice to her already happened? All I did was be short with her this afternoon. What am I gonna do if my mom dies tonight?"

"Clive?" Finn asked, seeing his patient from a few weeks ago coming back into the ER. "What happened?"

"Fainted at the casino," the paramedic said. "Chest pains and BP is sky high."

"She's exaggerating, Finn. Just a little winded. Good to see you, though. I had her call ahead so I can get the VIP treatment."

"Of course you did."

"Yo, Finn!" Sam said. "Mama Puck's test results are in."

"Great." He turned back to the paramedic. "Curtain two. Get some bilateral pressures. Clive, we will fix you right up. Enjoy."

"You know," Clive said to the paramedic as he was being taken to where Finn told him to go, "I fought the communists in Nam."

"I wasn't even born then," the paramedic said.

"Really?"

"All normal," Sam said. "But you know Puck. He's insisting we run them again."

"Okay. The minute they're out of CT, let me know."

"You got it."

Mollie grabbed a patient's chart on the nurses' station. "Sam. Congrats."

"For what? Come on, is someone playing a joke?"

Across the hospital, Kitty was still on the phone. "Yeah, that's right. I did call 10 minutes ago. I'm going to keep calling until I hear from Brianna Holt's caseworker. No, you listen to me. You get someone here now because this young girl shouldn't have to go through this alone. Get someone here," she said through gritted teeth.

"Suction, Artie," she heard Brody say from her spot outside of the OR.

In Dylan's room, it wasn't going well for him. "I've left four messages," Jocelyn said. "They're not answering the 800 number. I also checked the nurse message boards, but there's nothing."

"Thank you, Jocelyn," Rachel said, trying in vain to get the machine to work.

"Guess it is looking more like surgery," Dylan said. "Oh well. What guy doesn't want a petrified pubic area?"

"We're not giving up, okay?"

"We may not have a choice. This is starting to really hurt."

"I can give you something for the pain. Is there anything else you need before I try calling again?"

"My sanity back. Every time I'm in the hospital, it's like a constant cycle of should going through my head. Should have been more careful, should have drank more water, should have ordered the salad instead of the five alarm chili."

"Buddy, you gotta give yourself a break. You can't second guess yourself this much. Trust me, I have spent half of my life doing it and that way, madness lies. I'm gonna see if there's another number I can…" she said, trailing off when she noticed something. "Son of a bitch. Pressler makes this machine." She pulled out her phone and started dialing Jessica's number.

"Great. If that question comes up on Jeopardy, I'm going to be sure to remember it. Thank you."

"No, no, no. I know someone who might be able to help us."

Across the hospital, Finn walked into Clive's room. "Sorry about the wait. Labs are slow today. How you been, old man?"

"Last time I saw you, you gave me three to six months to live. And let me tell you, I've been living."

"Well, that's what you wanted. Have you been taking care of yourself? Taking those meds we talked about?"

"That nitro patch you gave me is giving me headaches. Anything you can do about that?"

"Yeah, let me take a look. Maybe I can cut it down in size." He looked for the patch and frowned. "I don't see anything."

"It was there this afternoon. I saw it."

"Maybe it fell off. You know, not wearing it is probably what brought your blood pressure up and that's what's caused your chest pains. I'll order you a new one. Until then, I want to keep you here under observation on a heart monitor, okay?"

"Thank you. I owe you one."

"Don't mention it. Just doing my job."

"You know that broad you introduced me to? Anne? She and I are becoming intimately acquainted. I'll tell you this, she's one hell of a gal."

"You two have been…"

"We're seeing each other. Just this afternoon we—"

"Hold on. You saw Mrs. Puckerman this afternoon? How did she seem to you? Because she came in tonight and she was a little altered."

"Anne? She was fine. What's wrong with her?"

"You didn't notice any dizziness or shortness of breath? Okay." Finn thought to himself for a second before he smiled. "Okay. I know what's going on."

"What?" Clive asked.

"Puck!" Finn called, leaving Clive alone for the moment. He walked into Mrs. Puckerman's room. "Nitroglycerine patch."

"What?" Puck asked.

"Check her for a nitroglycerine patch."

"Why would she have a nitro patch?"

"Just check her."

Puck sighed. "Mom, can you roll to your side?" She did and Puck looked. "Hey, Quinn, can you help me?"

"There's something down there," Quinn said.

Puck pulled it off. "Yeah, that's a nitro patch. Mom, where did this come from? This is probably what's causing your symptoms."

"Uh, Puck? You got a second?" Finn asked, trying to hide the smile that was spreading on his face.

"What the hell, man? How did you know?"

"So, the good news is that you're mom is fine, right? Her symptoms are all from the patch. The bad news – at least for you – is, um, your mom is having sex."

"What?"

"Yeah. With Clive."

"Who the hell is Clive?"

"Remember the old dude from the casino? He just told me that him and your mom are dating. He came in complaining of chest pains and it's because his nitro patch fell off. It must have rubbed off on your mom while they were doing it."

"Stop! That's way too much for me to take in right now."

"You got a visual in your head?"

"Let's not have a discussion about it."

"Good job Mama Puck," Finn said, giving her a thumbs up.

"Stop laughing," Puck said.

The door to the OR opened and Artie stepped out so he could talk to Kitty. "It's not looking good."

"She's not going to make it?"

"You know she came in with massive injuries."

"I know, it's just—" Kitty said, her voice breaking. "She has this foster daughter and she was so concerned about her and you could tell how much she really loves her."

"A foster mom. So if she doesn't make it, then…"

"Then the girl goes back into the system. She was so close to having a family and it all just gets taken from her. It's not fair," Kitty said as she started to cry. "You gotta do everything you can to save her mom, Artie. Promise me."

"We'll do our best."

"Do more than your best! Please. You don't know what it's like. You move from home to home and nothing is ever your own. And when you finally get used to someone, you finally are shown some kindness in your life, it's all just taken away."

"Kitty. Was that your life?"

The intercom made a clicking sound. "Artie, the transfusion's done," Brody said. "We're ready."

"Fight for her, Artie," Kitty said. "That little girl can't be alone again."

Kurt walked to Brianna's room and knocked on her door. "Hey. How's the chest PT working? Feeling better?"

She looked up from her book. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Your x-rays came back and you have a small area of pneumonia. That's what's been making the breathing harder. You just gotta take this medication and some antibiotics," he said, handing her a cup of pills. "It should make the breathing easier." He watched as she knocked the pills back with no problem.

"Thanks," she said, going back to reading the book. Kurt started walking towards the door but stopped when Brianna started talking. "Edmund's such a turd. Giving up his family like that?"

"He's a turd," Kurt said.

Brianna shrugged. "I guess you could call him a jerk. I don't get why you love him so much."

"I wouldn't say love. When he first gets to Narnia, he ruins everything. That's the Edmund I want to punch in the teeth. But, in the end, what does he do? He helps his family kill the White Witch. He changes. And I think that's what makes Edmund not a turd. I think that's pretty cool, don't you?"

"No. He has no idea how lucky he is. I mean, every kid wants to go to Narnia. When I go to a new foster home, I always check all the closets. Just in case. Do you?"

"I've spent some time in closets," Kurt said.

"I bet they don't have breathing treatments in Narnia. No one's ever sick there."

Kitty walked into the room with red, splotchy eyes. "Kurt? Do you have a minute?" she asked.

"Yeah." He turned towards Brianna. "I'll be right back." He followed Kitty out to the hallway, where Sam was talking to someone who had just arrived at the hospital.

"Drs. Hummel and Wilde, this is Brianna's social worker, Nina Alvarez. She finally made it."

"Hey, RoboNurse," Nina said. "I've seen 10 kids tonight and still need to check on another 10 before sunrise. So watch your mouth."

"He didn't mean it," Kurt said. "He didn't mean it that way. We've all taken to Brianna. Sam's just being protective."

"Good. She deserves it. I mean, all of these cases suck, but I admit, she's special. Where are we at?"

"I just diagnosed Brianna with pneumonia. I think some oral antibiotics will be fine."

"How are her oxygen levels?"

"They're okay."

"That's good. How's Avery doing?"

"She's not gonna make it," Kitty said, speaking for the first time.

"Does Brianna know?"

"We didn't want to say anything until we knew for sure," Kurt said.

"We're worried that she's going to shut down from losing someone else," Kitty said.

"The longer we wait, the harder it's gonna be for her. Brianna doesn't trust a lot of people so we need to be honest with her."

Rachel walked down the hallway with a smile on her face and tapped the desk in front of Sam. "Hey. Congratulations," she said, smiling at him.

"What's going on?" he called after her.

"Jessica, hi," Rachel said, ignoring Sam. "Thank you so much for coming in. I really owe you one."

"You owe her two," the guy standing next to Jessica said.

"Pat. Dude, really? Someone's life is on the line. Just do you job," Jessica said. "Where are we going?" she asked, turning back to Rachel.

"Upstairs. I gotta say, I didn't expect you to come in, you know?" she said, leading them towards the elevators. "I called you at two in the morning. I thought you'd just send someone."

"Well, you can always call me. Doctors aren't my clients. Patients are. If they need me, I get out of bed."

"That's what you look like when you get out of bed?" Rachel asked, looking at how put together she looked.

Puck opened the curtains to Clive room. "Mom," he said, seeing her sitting on the bed with him. "I need to take you back to your room."

"You said so yourself that I'm fine."

"I said your blood pressure was stabilizing. It's not necessarily fine. We still need to monitor you. And he needs to rest."

"Hey, Clive, I have the blood test results," Finn said, coming in. "You want some privacy?"

"Anything you can say in front of me, you can say in front of Anne," Clive said.

"Okay," Finn said. "Unfortunately, they're not great. You had another small heart attack. And as I said before, your next one could be your last."

"Clive, you never said you have—" Anne started.

"No, I was just trying to keep things light. You don't need to hear about heart attacks."

"He elected to turn down open heart surgery because it's too dangerous," Puck said.

"If I'd have let them open me up, I could have died before we ever went to dinner."

"There's nothing you can do?" Anne asked, turning to face her son.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Puckerman," Finn said. "The situation remains the same. He could die on the table. His heart is very weak."

"That's not the Clive I know," she said, taking his hand. "The Clive I know goes all in for what he wants."

"Don't badger him, Mom. He's made up his mind. We'll let you rest."

"Good. You can go," Clive said. "Anne can stay."

Finn and Puck started walking out of the room. Puck opened the curtains more so he'd be able to keep an eye on the two of them.

"Coffee," Jessica said, handing Rachel a cup as she was on a dating app on her phone.

"Thank you," Rachel said, gladly accepting the coffee.

"How much longer?"

"Your guy said it would be up and running in 10 to 15." Rachel took a sip of the coffee and smiled. "Oh, wow. This is not cafeteria coffee. Where did you get this?"

"I have a guy."

"Of course you do."

Jessica noticed Rachel's phone. "Tinder?"

"No. Bumble. I am very much done with Tinder. Not that it makes much of a difference. It kind of makes me regret breaking up with my fireman Kenny. Grass is always greener."

"Well, sometimes when you're dating, the grass feels like it's all burnt and barren." Jessica squeezed her eyes shut. "But the last thing you probably want is advice from the chick screwing your ex. Sorry."

"It's okay. Really. Maybe it's because I'm feeling better, or maybe it's because I like you. Or maybe it's because you guys look like you're actually happy."

"Yeah. We are."

"That's good," Rachel said.

"Cards on the table?"

"Please."

"Okay, I think maybe it's easier with him and me than it was with you guys because we aren't really strangled by a past. I guess it frees us up to have fun."

"Whatever it is, it's a good look on him. I like seeing him happy." The monitor in Dylan's room started beeping and Rachel ran into the room. "Dylan? It's okay. I'm right here."

"I feel kind of…" he said, trailing off.

"Hang in there, Dylan," Rachel said. "Pressure's dropping. Hang levophed. His pulse is weak." She looked into his eyes and sighed. "He's septic. I need you to page Dr. Park and tell him to meet us at the OR," she said to Jocelyn. "We need to get these kidney stones out now."

Things weren't going well in Brianna's room either. "No, she's gonna be fine," Brianna said. "Because we can do something. Can't we do anything?" she asked, looking to Kurt.

"I wish we could," he said, shaking his head.

"But…I-I just saw her. She was fine." She looked around at everyone in the room. "Can I see her? Just to say goodbye."

A few minutes later, they were up in the OR, talking to Brody. "I called time of death 10 minutes ago. If the board found out about that, they would fry us," he said.

"Dr. Weston, Brianna already feels responsible for Avery's death. Kids like this – they don't have much. To lose the one person – the one thing in their life – it's devastating. I promise it will make a difference," Kitty said.

"As her social worker, I'm signing off on this," Nina said. "She needs closure."

"Excuse me, Dr. Weston," Jocelyn said. "Rachel needs you. Her patient is headed to the OR."

"I'll be right there," Brody said. "I have to go."

"I can do it," Artie said. "Keep coding her and make sure it looks like she's still alive."

"Artie, I'm not putting you in that position," Brody said.

"You're not putting me there. I am. It's my decision. It's important to me."

"Okay," Brody said. He nodded at everyone gathered there and walked off.

"If I'd operated four hours ago, he wouldn't be crashing now," Dr. Park said as they wheeled Dylan to the OR.

"Hey, I'm the one who could die on the table," Dylan said. "Dr. Berry was listening to my wishes."

"What happened?" Brody asked.

"He's septic. Pressure's dropping."

"We're headed to the OR now," Dr. Park said.

"Lithotripsy didn't work?" Brody asked.

"We didn't get a chance to try it. It wasn't repaired in time."

"Is it still an option?" Dylan asked.

Rachel sighed. "Dylan, your pressure is very low. It's getting dangerous to not operate."

"Can we still try?"

"Yes, we can," Brody said, stopping them from moving the bed any more. "It's risky, but it could work."

"That's insane. You need surgery," Dr. Park said.

"We still have time. If it doesn't work, he's all yours," Brody promised.

"I'll be waiting," Dr. Park said, walking away.

"Is this crazy?" Dylan asked.

"I've heard crazier ideas tonight. Sometimes, a Hail Mary works."

Dylan turned towards Rachel. "If you need to trust someone, Dr. Weston is your guy," Rachel said.

Dylan nodded. "Okay. Here we go," Brody said, turning the bed around so they could try to loosen the stones first before surgery.

"Thanks for holding down the fort, Sam," Puck said as he walked the hospital with him and Finn. "I've been a little distracted tonight."

"No doubt," Sam said. "I heard your mom's getting some action."

"You told him?" Puck asked, turning to Finn.

"No, I didn't. I haven't said anything."

"I heard it from Ray the orderly," Sam said. "And the CT department. And the blood lab."

"Is there any privacy in this place?" Puck asked.

"Oh, congratulations," Finn said, tapping his knuckles against Sam's.

"For what?"

"I'm proud of you," Finn said, walking away.

Sam stoof in the middle of the hallway and looked around. "Why does everybody keep…" His eyes landed on Jocelyn. "Joss! What's going on?"

"Okay, fine. We nominated you as our new union rep. You won by a 15 to 0 vote."

"You're kidding me."

"I never kid about the union."

"But I don't want that job."

"Then you probably shouldn't have skipped the election meeting. Don't worry. I'll make it up to you," she said, smacking him on the butt.

Puck and Quinn walked over to Clive's open curtain. "What's all this?" he asked.

"We talked it over," Clive said. "I can't give up on the love of my life. I'm rolling the dice."

"I'll be right here when you wake up," Anne said.

"I'm counting the minutes."

"It won't be long. You have the best doctor in this dump. My son won't let you die," she said, leaning in to kiss him.

"You guys are too much," Quinn said as they rolled Clive away.

"Mom, why'd you say that? You know I'm not operating," Puck asked.

"I'm not an idiot. I'm giving him hope. Think of it as blowing on his dice for luck."

"I'm not going anywhere near that one," Puck said to Quinn.

"Now, take me down to the cafeteria. I want to peruse the Jello section."

Puck turned to Quinn. "Don't look at me," she said. "Someone's got to get our kids ready for school." She kissed Puck goodbye and laid a reassuring hand on her mother-in-law's shoulder.

Puck turned to his mother. "Jello. Okay. We have that."

Up in the OR, Kurt led Brianna into the room, where Artie was pretending to work on her, with Kitty and Nina following behind. "You can say whatever you need to," Kitty said.

"Why does she look like that?" Brianna asked Kurt. "Can she even hear me?"

"She can," Kurt said.

Brianna stepped closer. "Avery? I love you. And I'll never forget you. You're the best mom anybody could ever ask for. Please. I can't. I don't want to say goodbye," she said as she started crying. "Please don't make me," she said, running off.

"I'll go get her," Kurt said, walking out of the room.

"That was an epic fail," Nina said to Kitty as they left the OR.

"I don't think so," Kitty said. "It was hard for her, obviously. But she would always regret not doing it."

"How long were you in the system?" Nina asked.

"That obvious?"

"To someone who spends 80 hours a week working in it, yeah."

"Too long," Kitty said.

Kurt found Brianna in a closet, struggling to breath. "Hey," he said, sitting down on the floor next to her. "You need to take a couple puffs from your inhaler," he said, pulling it out of his scrubs pocket.

"How'd you find me?" she asked.

"I checked every closest on the floor. I knew you'd be in one of them."

"Yeah, well, I'm still here. No forest in this one," she said, sniffing.

"That's the bad part. There never is. I know there's nothing in the world I can say right now to make you feel any better. So I'm just gonna sit here with you."

"What am I gonna do without her?"

"I don't know," Kurt said. Brianna sniffed again and launched herself into Kurt's arms.

Sam walked outside the hospital and saw Nina there, scraping off parts of the hospital wall. "Nina," he said. "I just got a text from Kurt. Brianna's okay."

"I heard. Thank you," she said.

"Can I get you something?"

"You got a time machine?"

"I could use one of those myself."

"Where would you go?"

"August 6, 2001. 7:14 a.m."

"Wow. What happened then?"

"Just some old football thing. How about you?"

"Ten hours ago. I'd get Avery off the road. Then Brianna wouldn't be alone."

"She's not alone. She has you."

"Right," Nina said. "Except she will be. I'm a caseworker. Like I said earlier, I have 25 kids. She needs parents and a permanent home. But really, all she needs is a place for tonight."

"She can't stay with you?"

"It doesn't work that fast. I've already got two foster kids at home with me and my parents at this moment. No room at the inn."

"What if she stayed here? Pneumonia's grounds for admission."

"Her oxygen levels are fine. It's mild and at the very worst, moderate."

"Not if one of the doctors thinks she'd benefit from admission. And I know three who are looking to help in any way they can."

"So," Dylan asked as he was getting wheeled back to his room. "How close would you say we were?"

"Let's just say it's good you passed that stone when you did," Brody said.

"That's some high stakes pee," he said, whistling.

"Jocelyn, will you take Dylan to recovery?" Rachel asked.

"Whoa, we're done? That's it? I was kind of feeling like we were the three musketeers or something for a second. All for one? We make a good team."

"Yeah," Brody said.

"I'll check in on you later," Rachel said.

"Funny guy," Brody said, watching him get wheeled off.

"Yeah," Rachel said.

"Rachel, can we start over? At least from, like, two weeks ago?"

"You mean when I opened my big mouth about Annie?"

"And when I acted like a dick to you. I'm not gonna lie. I think part of me wanted to rub your face in it a little bit. The way I felt when you and Finn…"

"Brody, I never wanted to make you feel like—"

"I know. But seeing you two together…it still hurt."

"Maybe going back two weeks isn't going to be enough."

"It'll have to be," Brody said. "I do care about Annie. I know you two have history. I know that. But I don't have that same baggage with her. So it works for us."

"Well, I am learning that I have a lot more baggage than I realized so…"

"Yeah, well, we all do. It's what you do with it that counts. I'll see you around," he said, walking in the other direction.

"Bye, Brody." She sighed and turned around, almost running into Finn. "Hey. How's your shift been?"

"Eh, not too bad. Found out my heart patient from a few weeks ago is dating Puck's mom so it's been a lot of fun to tease him."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Rachel asked, a smile spreading across her face. "So, Jessica was here earlier to help me out of bind. She seems really happy with you."

"Rachel…"

"I meant what I said a few weeks ago. I just want to see you happy. I'm glad you are." She looked at her phone and sighed. "I have to go, but I'll see you around."

Nina walked up to Kurt outside of Brianna's room. "Thank you for admitting her."

"I know it's not ideal, but it's better than a temporary housing situation. And we'll take good care of her until you find the right home for her. Could you give this to her?"

"She'll kill me if I don't," Nina said, taking the book from Kurt.

"Wait, hold on," he said, taking the book back. He grabbed a pen from his scrubs pocket and started writing something on the inside.

"What are you doing?"

"Writing in my phone number so she can reach me anytime she needs me."

"You put your number in there and you better mean it. She calls you, you pick up. She doesn't need anymore disappointment."

"I'll pick up. And I'll check on her every day that she's here."

Puck walked up to where his mom was sitting. "Hey, Mom. I got you this," he said, holding out the cup of coffee.

"Thank you. Still nothing?"

"Not yet." Puck sighed. "I'm sorry about stepping in between you and Clive. That wasn't my place. And I'm sorry for getting annoyed with you and being short with you."

"It's okay. You're family. You're allowed."

"Earlier tonight," Puck said, trying to keep his voice even, "I thought – I thought I was losing you."

"I know you did." She put her coffee cup down and hugged her son. "But you're not getting rid of me that easy. You know, your grandmother made it to 97. And I plan to outlive her."

"Oh. Okay." He heard someone walk up and saw Artie standing there. "Any news?"

"I wanted to tell you in person. Clive's out of surgery. He's awake and you can see him now," Artie said.

"Thank you," Anne said, tears coming to her eyes.

Across the hospital, Finn and Jessica were walking together. "You know you don't have to come every time my ex calls, right?" he asked.

"How about thanks for saving a patient's life?"

"I guess I could have led with that."

"I'm just messing with you. I didn't come because Rachel called me. I came to help a patient. There's a reason I don't work at a bank. Speaking of which, I gotta go and get some sleep."

"Can I come?"

"No, I actually need sleep. I have a really big job interview in a few hours."

"Yeah? For what?"

"Nope," Jessica said, shaking her head. "Not gonna jinx it."

"Good luck," Finn said, kissing her.

Sam saw Nina standing at the desk and went over to talk to her. "Hey. I heard it all worked out. For now."

"Yeah. For now. Thank you."

"You got it," Sam said.

Nina started walking away before turning around to look at Sam. "You know, I work pretty much nonstop, live with my parents and take care of two foster kids. It's not exactly the sexiest lifestyle a woman could have. Um, but if you ever wanted to get together for a coffee or…"

"Oh. Um…"

"Oh. Okay! Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. But I'm not very good at not saying anything. You seem like a really good guy and I don't meet a lot of good guys in my line of work."

"Well, today's your lucky day," Sam said.

Nina took a card out of her pocket. "Ball's in your court." She smiled at him and left the hospital.

Sam looked at the phone number and then turned to look at the nurses' station, where he saw Jocelyn standing there. "I didn't…she just…"

"I saw. Look, I know we're just doing whatever. It's cool. I mean, if you want to go out with her, I get it. Just let me know first, Sam. I don't want to hear about your sex life from Mollie."

Puck walked out of the hospital with Finn not far behind him. "You okay?" Finn asked.

"Yeah. I am now. Thanks for tonight. You saved my mom."

"Anytime. You know that. I do have one question, though," Finn said when they got to Puck's car.

"What's that?"

"You gonna start calling Clive 'dad' now?"

"Shut up."

"Daddy? Pops? Pop-pops?"

"I don't want to hear it."

"Is he going to stay over? In the same bed? What are you going to do if you start hearing them through the walls?" Finn asked as Puck got in his car. "Puck?" he asked, tapping on the window.

"I can't hear you," Puck said.

Across the parking lot, Kitty was leaving the hospital and walked over to Artie's parking spot. "Hey," she said. "Thanks for all your help tonight and for stepping up like that."

"Anything for a kid, you know? And I knew it was important to you."

She walked forward and kissed Artie. "Get in."

"In there?"

Kitty pushed him into the backseat of his car and climbed in after him.

"So, what did you want?"

"Shut up Artie." She shut the door and kept kissing him.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Unexpected

"What do we got?" Finn asked, meeting the paramedics who were bringing in a patient at the front of the hospital right at the start of shift.

"Patient called 911 for acute onset worst headache of life. Nausea and visual changes. BP is 147 over 89, heart rate's sinus, tachy in the 120s."

"Help me," the patient said. "Everything's blurry. My hand is numb."

"Possible aneurysm. Let's get her straight to CT and then I'll tap her," Finn said.

"Wait, I have a backpack," the patient said, starting to get agitated. "I came in with a red backpack!"

"The medics will bring it right in. Don't worry about it," Finn said, wheeling her past the nurses' station.

Rachel felt someone tap her on her shoulder and turned around to see her patient standing there. "You need to go back to the exam room, Mr. Neville."

"Hey, I like how you look in those scrubs," he said, giving Rachel a once over.

"Thank you. But we bring the test to you."

"I don't want you to put anything up my bottom."

"We'll try not to. I just need you to go back and sit and wait for me."

"I'll wait for you all night."

"Okay," Rachel said, smiling.

"Great," he said, walking in one direction.

"Actually," Rachel said, reaching out to grab his arm lightly, "Over there," she said, leading him towards his exam room.

"Oh yeah. Just…getting my bearings."

Outside of the hospital, Kurt was wheeling Brianna around the parking lot in her wheelchair so she could get some fresh air. "Can we stay out here a little longer? I hate being stuck in my room."

"I know you do. It's just what's best for you. But, here, I do have something for you," Kurt said. He stopped pushing her and walked around to the front of the wheelchair and kneeled down so he was at her eye level.

"Something even better than a parking lot full of sun? I don't think so."

"Don't be so sure," he said, getting something out of his pocket. He held the small package up for her to see and smiled.

"Is that…"

"Turkish Delight. Just don't go selling out to the Ice Queen like Edmund."

"Never," Brianna said solemnly.

"You can have some after your percussion therapy. You gotta wait for me, though."

"Not now? Oh, man. That's not fair." She started laughing, but the laughing wasn't good for her as she started coughing.

Kurt stood up and went back around to push her wheelchair. "Let's get you back inside and to your breathing treatment."

He walked to the front of the hospital, where the entire nursing staff was standing outside of the hospital with protest signs. "What are they doing out here?" Brianna asked, looking up at him. "And why are they in their regular clothes?"

"We are on strike, honey," Mollie said, handing her a sheet of paper.

"It's like seeing your teacher at the grocery store," Kurt said, smiling at the nurses.

"In their underwear," Brianna added.

"The hospital promised us raises three years ago and still hasn't followed through," Jocelyn said.

"And they always have us working shorthanded," Heather added.

"Do you have anything to do with this?" Brianna asked, looking up at Kurt again.

"No ma'am, I do not. In fact, they're the real bosses. Don't forget that." He looked at the nurses. "We're all on your sides. Good luck," he said, pushing Brianna back into the hospital.

"Hey, Bri," Puck said, coming outside to talk with the nurses.

"Hey, Dr. Puck," she said, giving him a high five as Kurt rolled her past him.

"And what do you want?" Mollie asked Puck when he came up to her.

"You can catch more flies with honey, Mollie."

"Oh, so now I'm supposed to provide you honey?"

"I just need you to tell me where the EKG paper is and the handheld urinals."

Heather laughed as she walked over to where Puck was standing. "Ask the scabs you called in to replace us."

"Throw me a bone, ladies. Only two scabs have shown. We're on the same side. We're all getting screwed by the hospital."

"Some of us are getting screwed just a little bit more, Puck," Mollie said.

"It's the patients getting screwed now."

"You're really going to go there? You're gonna put that on us? You need to take those handheld urinals and shove them straight up your ass!" Mollie yelled as an ambulance drove up.

"If I could find them, I would," Puck said, walking back inside.

Rachel turned to one of the replacement nurses who was sitting at the nurses' station. "I need you to do a rainbow on Mr. Neville and get it to the lab stat."

"Absolutely. Um, where are the IV start kits?" he asked. "And the saline bags."

"Yeah, um, they're in the supply chest down the hall."

"Which supply chest? And where's the lab? Should I be taking notes?" he asked.

"Never mind," Rachel sighed. "Kitty!" she said, seeing the younger doctor walk by. "Can you draw blood on Mr. Neville?"

"Yeah, but…" she trailed off when she saw Artie down the hall. "Shit," she said, ducking.

"What?" Rachel asked with a confused look on her face.

"Artie. Over there."

"So?"

"So I sort of slept with him."

Rachel put down the patient charts she had in her hand and turned to look at Kitty. "What?"

"I already regret it, so a little less shock would be appreciated."

"How did this even happen?"

"A little vulnerability, maybe some hormones. But now he's gonna get all weird and clingy and maybe cry in front of me. And, I mean, you know him, I really don't need that tonight," Kitty said as Artie walked up behind her.

"Hey," Artie said.

"Hey," Kitty said back.

Artie opened his mouth to say something and walked off. Rachel watched him leave and she shrugged her shoulders. "He seems fine."

Across the nurses' station, Sam gave Artie a high five. "Oh my god," Artie said. "I was dying."

"Be cool," Sam said.

"I just don't want her to think that I'm not interested. Because, you know, I am. I mean, really interested. Maybe I should…you know what? I'm gonna text her and I'm gonna explain—"

"Hey," Sam said, stopping Artie from grabbing his phone. "You just did me a huge favor, so I'm gonna do something for you. Give me your phone," he said, taking it out of Artie's hands. "Play it cool. She thinks you're too into her, she'll drop you like a bad habit. Now, just remember what I told you. That women…"

"Women play the game," Artie said as Jocelyn walked down the hallway to where the two of them were standing.

"You got it. Keep it cool. Trust me. I promise you, it works."

"Right," Jocelyn said in an unamused voice. "Can I talk to you, Sam? Privately?"

"Yeah," he said, following Jocelyn to the break room.

Artie watched them go. "I might need my phone though."

"You know I was just playing, right Joss?" Sam asked when they got into the break room.

"I don't care about that. That's after hours. But right now, you're our union liaison. We've walked out and you're walking in?"

"I'm not here as a nurse. I'm here for Lauren," he said, pointing to a teenaged patient who was listening to music on her phone. "She's the high school soccer star I've been training. She's been sick for weeks and she might have pneumonia. She has school, then practice, then school, then practice so this is the only time she could come by."

"There are other people here to help."

"The scabs? Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. No, she's come way too far to get lost in the shuffle. There's a recruiter coming on Thursday and she's got a shot to be the first in her family to go to college. But she's gotta be on, not sick."

"I heard that," Lauren said, taking her headphones out of her ears. "And I'm not sick. I'm just feeling a little tired because you work my ass into the ground."

"I only give you what I know you can handle."

"I get it," Jocelyn said, looking over at Lauren. "So get her checked in and get your ass outside on the line." She gave him a stern look and walked out of the break room.

"My bad," Lauren said. "Did I get you in trouble with your girlfriend?"

"No, it's just some work stuff," he said, sitting down in one of the chairs next to her. "And she's not my girlfriend."

"Oh, so is that why she hangs around the gym all the time? It's just work stuff? That's cool."

"Mind your own business," he said, laughing as he stood up. "Come on, let's get you in to see Dr. Abrams."

"Whatever you say, Coach." She stood up as her phone started ringing. "Oh, hold on. It's my mom checking in. I gotta take this." She accepted the call on her phone as Sam walked out of the room. "Hey, Ma."

"Where's the ambulance that brought me in?" Finn's patient from earlier asked, running up to the nurses' station.

"In the parking lot," one of the temporary nurses said. "This is sort of my first day…"

"I gotta find my backpack!" she said, running out of the hospital.

"Wait, I could get it for you," he said. "Okay. Maybe not."

"You better get your ass out there, Sam, or Mollie's gonna kill you," Puck said, walking up to the nurses' station. "Oh, where's the EKG paper?"

"Under the counter in the box marked EKG paper," Sam said, looking up from Lauren's chart. "Have you seen Artie?"

"No."

Rachel walked up with lots of trauma items in her hands. "We need to get our nurses back," she said, trying not to lose her balance.

"Tell management, not us," Sam said.

"We did," Puck said. "Management is taking their own sweet time with negotiations."

"Has anybody seen my patient?" Finn asked, coming up to the nurses' station. "I dropped her off in CT five minutes ago."

"She went to go get her backpack," the new nurse said helpfully.

"You let a patient that came in, in an ambulance, walk out of the ER?" he asked, looking down at the floor. "And, to get a backpack that's right there at your feet?"

The nurse looked down. "Oh, jeez. The paramedics must have brought that in. I'll go take it back to her," he said, picking it up as he walked out of the ER.

"Where's the john?" Mr. Neville asked, coming back to the nurses' station.

Rachel looked over at Finn, silently begging him to get him to take the patient to the bathroom. He gave her a small shrug and tried not to laugh as Rachel rolled her eyes. "Mr. Neville," she sighed.

Outside the hospital, the nurse went up to Lauren, who was talking to her mother still. "Did you see a woman come out here?" he asked, frowning as she waved him off.

Suddenly, a loud boom exploded outside of the hospital and sent fire everywhere. The glass paneling of the hospital door shattered and the doctors and patients took cover.

Finn lunged across the nurses' station, pulling Rachel down with him as he covered her body with his to minimize her impact.

Sam started coming to, noticing all the loose wiring that was now exposed from the blast as the others started looking around the front lobby of the hospital. "You okay?" Finn asked Rachel.

She looked at him with wide eyes. "What happened?" She shook her head and realized her patient was part of the blast. "Mr. Neville?" she asked, getting up to try and find him.

Sam ran outside. "Lauren?" he called repeatedly, trying to find her.

Finn ran out with Sam to help him find his patient.

"Lauren, oh god," he said, seeing her crumpled up on the ground. "You're okay, it's gonna be okay. Wake up," he said as Finn felt for a pulse.

"My leg!" she said, crying. "Oh god, my leg!"

"Her leg is hemorrhaging, we need to get a tourniquet on it," Finn said. "Hand me the blood pressure cuff." Sam ran over to a medic's bag and grabbed the cuff. He handed it to Finn, who wrapped it around Lauren's leg. "I need you to get me a milligram of Dilaudid or morphine, whatever you can get."

Inside, Puck had grabbed a fire extinguisher and was working on extinguishing the small fires that were around the nurses' station. "We were in pre-op when we heard the explosion," Brody said, running over to where Puck was standing, Artie not far behind him. "What the hell happened?"

"It's an IED, pipe bomb or pressure cooker," Kurt said, trying to help a patient. "It was filled with bolts, I think."

"Was this a terrorist attack?" Artie asked.

"I think we gotta assume the worst," Kurt said.

Outside the hospital, Finn was trying to calm Lauren down. "Okay, Sam's off to get some drugs, okay?"

"He's so slow," Lauren said, grimacing through the pain. "I can beat him in my sleep."

"Atta girl," Finn said. "You're gonna be okay. He's coming now." He looked up at Sam as he injected her with the morphine. "We gotta get her leg to the OR now. Get me a gurney."

Sam nodded as he ran back inside to find a gurney. Finn looked around, taking in the damage, when he noticed a red backpack that had been extremely burnt and was ripped to shreds. His face hardened as he looked around for his patient from earlier, sure that she knew exactly what had happened.

"Can you walk?" Puck asked the patient Kurt was working on. "We need to get the victims treated and account for survivors," he said.

"We need to clear the perimeter."

"We're not the cavalry, Kurt. We're doctors. Listen up!" he said, talking to the victims of the explosion. "If you're hurt or bleeding, we're going to help you. If you can move at all, you need to move towards the elevators and away from points of access."

"Open tib-fib fracture," Sam said as him and Finn brought Lauren into the hospital.

"I agree," Brody said, looking at her leg. "Possibly grade three. Lots of contamination. Let's get her up to the OR."

"Hold on," Puck said, stopping them from moving. "SWAT is sealing off everything. We can't go up to the OR."

"You've got to be kidding me," Sam said.

"I think I know who did it," Finn said. "She was my patient. She had a red backpack that was large enough to have a pipe bomb."

"That's what I'm saying," Kurt said. "That's what terrorists do. They wait for first responders to arrive, then they detonate a second device."

"I saw that on Hurt Locker," Artie said.

"And I lived it," Puck said. "They could also be waiting for us to load our patients into ambulances and pick us off outside."

"Well, you gotta make a call," Brody said. "Puck, we gotta do surgery right now."

"We're staying here."

"No!" Kurt said. "You're wrong."

"We could lose people in the transfer. I'm your commanding officer here. Until SWAT secures the perimeter, we keep everyone safe. We need to know what's going on."

"Sam, take her to trauma two. That's our new OR," Brody said.

"Finn, go give SWAT her description. Everybody else, continue triaging."

In one of the trauma rooms, Rachel was working on a very agitated Mr. Neville. "Multiple lacerations with deep glass under the skin. We need to get this cleaned out," Rachel said to Kitty. "Hey," she said, turning around. "Are you okay?"

"No. I'm not okay. I'm scared to death."

"Kitty, you can be scared, but you need to focus."

"Aren't you freaked out?"

"Yes. But we have a job to do. I need you to go and get suture kits, kerlix rolls and all the O-neg you can find."

"Yeah. Okay."

"Are you good?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Go quickly."

Kurt was walking around the hospital, FaceTiming with Brianna, who was stuck in her hospital room. "I can't get to you now, Bri, it's all closed off."

"I'm scared. There's no nurses and no doctors. There's no you."

Kurt sighed. "I know. But I called up some of the orderlies who work up there. They're gonna come hang out. I gotta work now, okay? But, I'll tell you what. You can have some of that Turkish Delight now. How's that sound?"

"Great," she said smiling, though her smile quickly faded. "Except I left it down there."

"I'll get some up as soon as I can. I promise."

In Lauren's exam room, Brody was looking over the damage. "Her Achilles tendon is ruptured and she's got a tear to her popliteal artery."

Sam came in the room. "I've got sterile gowns, sterile drapes, a ventilator. I saw an orthopedic kit outside."

"Sam, you need to go rest that shoulder. You landed pretty hard."

"I'm the only nurse you've got. Let's just focus on Lauren," he said as Artie came in the room.

"Okay. I'm gonna place an ex-fix to hopefully stabilize the leg enough to avoid any more vascular injury. Go grab that kit," Brody said.

Sam nodded and ran out, holding the door so Rachel could come in. "We need some extra hands," she said. "And Kitty could use help pulling glass out of Mr. Neville. The ER's sealed off so it's just us."

"Artie, I got this. Go help."

"Of course," Artie said, running out of the room to follow Rachel to the exam room next door.

"I just got word from the parking lot," the lead SWAT agent said, coming up to Finn, who was working on a patient. "We found a woman fitting your description sitting in a truck."

"What can I do?"

"There may be more casualties out there."

"When they're ready out there, you should go," Puck said. "We got this."

Finn nodded and followed the SWAT member to the parking lot. "Driver, step out of the vehicle," another member of the SWAT team said. "Step out of the vehicle!"

Slowly, the door opened and she started getting out of the truck.

"Show me your hands! Walk towards my voice. Slowly. Stop!" he said when she got close enough. "Get on your knees."

She reached down like she was going for a gun when one of the SWAT guys shot her. She screamed and fell to the ground.

Finn started running towards her but was stopped by another member of the SWAT team. "Stop. What are you doing?"

"If I don't get to her, she's gonna bleed out."

"And you care?"

"I only care if there's another bomb," Finn said. "She's the only one who can tell us," he said, running over to where she was.

"Oh god that hurts," she said as Finn started looking at the bullet wound in her side.

"Yeah? Well, if you don't tell me if there's another bomb, it's going to hurt a whole lot more."

"You can't do that. You're a doctor."

"Oh no. It's just you and me here. I can do what I want," he said as she kept screaming. "I could pull this out the hard way," he said, pressing on the entrance where the bullet was as she screamed harder.

"No more bombs. There's no other bomb. I swear. Please stop!"

"Then why did you do this?"

"Because you deserved it."

In Lauren's room, Sam was looking at her lab results they'd done in room. "Her white count is over 20,000."

"It could be a reaction to the trauma. Or possibly from the pneumonia." Brody finished screwing something into her leg. "Okay. We're all set here. Let's check her pulse." He felt both her upper and lower leg and sighed. "Nothing. Just enlarged lymph nodes."

Sam picked up a portable ultrasound machine and put the wand to her leg. "Nothing."

"We need to do a fem-pop bypass so she doesn't lose the leg. Get me an 11 blade and 7-0 prolene."

In the next trauma room over, Finn was unstrapped the bomber from the restraints she had put on her when she was brought into the hospital again. Rachel opened the door and coughed slightly. "This her?" she asked.

"Yeah. Shot twice. Hollow point bullets. I need a chest tube, intubation tray and four units of PRBCs."

"Of all the days for the nurses not to be here," Rachel said, going over to the supply chest that was in the room to get Finn everything he needed.

"Yeah," he said, putting on his stethoscope. "One bullet left axillae. One right thigh. No breath sounds on the left. Damn it," he said, taking off this stethoscope. "You know, this is all my fault."

"The collapsed lung?" Rachel asked. "No it's not. Let's place a chest tube."

"I saw her."

"What?"

"She was my patient. She wanted her backpack. I didn't put it together."

"Well, why would you?"

"She was sweating and acting strange."

"But, Finn, that describes 90 percent of the people who come in here."

"I just…I didn't think, you know? I didn't…I didn't think I'd be a danger to my own hospital. It's not a war zone."

Rachel reached across the patient and took his hand. "Hey, look at me." She waited until he looked her in the eyes. "You take on a lot. Do not take on this."

"I spoke to her outside," Finn said as Rachel started manually pumping oxygen into the patient. "She said we got what we deserved."

"She said the hospital deserved this?"

"That's what she said. Who knows though, right? I mean, these days, anybody can do it. There's bomb recipes on a thousand different websites."

"Such a sad face," Rachel said, looking at the patient.

"Yeah," Finn agreed. "A lot of sad faces around here tonight." He looked up at Rachel. "Let's keep her alive. I wanna hear what we did to deserve this."

In Mr. Neville's room, Kitty and Artie were working together to try and get the shrapnel out of his back. "This one's gonna need some deep sutures," Kitty said.

Artie looked over at her and noticed her hands were shaking. "Hey," he said gently. "You're doing great. Just take it slow."

"How are you not freaked out?"

"Who says I'm not?"

"You know, I remember the first time I was bombed. It was in the sugar mill just west of Saigon. And, I actually pissed myself. Of course, I told the other soldiers it was just sweat. You don't smell as if you've pissed yourself," Mr. Neville said.

"I didn't," Kitty said.

"Mr. Neville, how about you just try and get some rest and save your energy." Artie felt Kitty tap him on the side and the two of them walked slightly out of earshot from their patient.

"He's really out of it," Kitty said. "Early Alzheimer's? Maybe dementia?"

"How long have you two been married?" Mr. Neville asked.

"We're not married," Artie said quickly.

"Oh. I remember when I was in college, I liked a beautiful girl. She was so beautiful. And the sexual acrobatics—"

"That's not it, Mr. Neville," Kitty said, cutting him off quickly. "We just work together."

"Exactly," Artie agreed. "That's all."

"Oh. Hmm," he said.

"Okay, let's get this glass out of your ass, Mr. Neville," Kitty said, trying to get the subject away from hers and Artie's personal lives.

Out in the lobby, Puck was calling out names from patient charts he had. "Angela Wei? Angela Wei?" he asked, looking around.

"Uh, I think she was in my room, right?" a patient asked. "She was really sick."

"There was so much smoke that we had to move a bunch of the gurneys into the break room," Kurt said.

"This is taking forever. My grandpa is missing," a girl said, standing up from her chair.

"Look, everybody, the SWAT team has let in some first responders, but they're still sweeping the building. Once we get a final count, we can start evacuating those with IDs. This is all for your own safety. You just have to be patient," Puck said.

"No, I want to know now. We've been scared, waiting and now you're taking role like we're a bunch of kindergartners."

"Ma'am, he's just trying to help," Kurt said. "You just need to take a breath."

"You don't give a shit about our families," she said.

"He does," Mollie said, walking over to where Kurt was standing. Jocelyn and Heather were following behind her. "Your grandfather is Daniel Rodriguez, right? He snuck out to have a smoke early this morning, okay? I saw him myself. Everyone outside was evacuated to a gym at the community center. I'll call over there, okay?"

"Thank god," Puck said.

"We've been trying to get back in since the explosion," Mollie said, turning to face Puck.

"The strike can shove it on a day like this," Heather said, smiling at Puck.

"Is Sam doing okay?" Jocelyn asked, turning to Kurt.

"Trauma two with Brody. He's doing okay. His friend Lauren? Not so much," Kurt said, walking away.

"Okay, well, we got it from here. You get back to the patients," Mollie said. "Everybody else, we're going to tell you what's happening," she said, addressing the crowd.

Jocelyn walked down the hall into Mr. Neville's room. "What can I do for you guys?" she asked Artie and Kitty.

"You are a sight for sore eyes. Can we get a tetanus shot for Mr. Neville before we discharge him?" Artie asked.

"Are you feeling okay, Mr. Neville?" Kitty asked.

"I don't feel so good. It's itching. It's awful. Get it off me," he said, ripping off his bandages.

"Let's not do this," Artie said. He looked at the blisters and looked up at Kitty with wide eyes. "Blistering on the stitches and oozing."

"He could be allergic to the stitches. Or maybe the shrapnel."

Artie unbuttoned Mr. Neville's gown and looked at the stitches from the other bandages. He saw it looked much worse on his stomach and he looked at Kitty and Jocelyn in horror. "Okay. Um, Mr. Neville, we'll be right back."

"What? Where are you going?"

The PA clicked and a voice came over the intercom. "All non-injured can leave the hospital at this time."

"Stop, Puck!" Artie said, running up to Puck, Kitty and Jocelyn following behind him.

"What is it?" Puck asked.

"Anthrax," Kitty said.

"What?"

"Our patient, Mr. Neville, he has cutaneous anthrax all over his body."

"Are you sure?"

"Textbook," Artie said. "Painless but itchy black ulcers, blisters. Mr. Neville had cuts all over his body. That's how the anthrax spores got in."

"Oh my god. The bomb wasn't just meant to maim. It was a dispersal method for anthrax? Anybody who came in contact could be sick. If it aerosolized, that could mean the whole ER. We need to shut…sir!" Puck yelled to one of the security guards. "Shut down the ER. Nobody comes in or out."

In the bomber's room, Finn and Rachel were monitoring her vitals. "Her blood pressure and oxygen levels are back up," she said.

"Let's update SWAT. I'm sure they've cleared the hospital by now."

Rachel nodded and opened the door to the trauma room, surprised to see people in haz-mat suits inspecting the hospital.

"What's going on?" Finn asked Puck as he walked by.

"We had to shut down the hospital. Anthrax."

"It was in the bomb," Finn stated.

"Probably. And since you two worked on the bomber…"

"We could have breathed in the spores or gotten it from her blood," Rachel said, rubbing a hand on her forehead.

"We need to decontaminate," Finn said.

"Anyone symptomatic?" Rachel asked.

"Your old man patient. Multiple anthrax lesions. It's limited to his skin, but we're beginning treatment for everyone. You two need to go right now. Everyone's under medical observation until the morning. Anthrax could be everywhere," Puck called out as Brody and Sam walked down the hallway.

"Anthrax?" Brody asked.

"Yeah, we think it was in the bomb. How's Lauren?"

"We were able to restore blood flow to the lower leg," Brody said as Jocelyn walked over. "She's lucky we could save it in time."

"Yeah, lucky," Sam scoffed. "She didn't want to come in today, but I made her."

"Sam, you had no way of knowing that. Come on," Jocelyn said, trying to pull him away. "You need your antibiotics."

"Lauren's already on Sypro from the operation. So…"

"Now it's time for you," Puck said to Brody.

"I'm on it," Brody said, walking down the hallway.

A little while later, Puck was walking the halls, talking to Quinn on the phone. "It's all going to be okay. Don't worry," he said. He listened to what Quinn said and started to take back his words. "Okay, worry. But it's going to be okay. No, don't wake up my mother. I love you too." He hung up the phone and leaned against a wall, sliding down it so he could have a quick break before someone else needed him.

He pulled up the picture app on his phone, looking at a photo of him and Quinn, and one of him with the twins and goofy photos he'd taken of Beth.

Kurt walked up to him with an IV in his arm and sat down next to Puck.

"Just taking a breath," Puck said.

Kurt smiled. "You deserve it," he said, sighing. "About earlier…I'm sorry. I was wrong. You were right."

"Okay, I don't even know what you're talking about anymore. I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter."

"If you had listened to me and sent those patients to all those different hospitals, we would have spread anthrax everywhere. That was probably the plan in the first place, wasn't it?"

"The plan was fear. And, believe me, I fell for it. I was scared."

"You were?"

"I was petrified. It comes with having kids. You realize you have something more important to live for. Everyone thinks having a family is only exhaustion and the end of fun. But once you have kids, you realize that watching their soccer game, getting a piece of art or just even having a conversation with them…it's exciting. It's as exciting as a blockbuster movie and a four star meal rolled into one. All you want to do is be around them." Puck realized what he was saying and looked at Kurt apologetically. "Sorry, I'm just babbling and rambling."

"No, you're not rambling. Brianna," he said, unable to control the smile that was spreading across his face. "I don't know. I feel like…I can't describe how I feel."

"I can. You're a great guy and you see this kids who basically has nobody else in the world and you step right in."

"She's just so cool. And she's so brave. And I know she's had nothing but disappointment her whole life. And I just feel like I need to be there for her. I wanna be there for her. But I just feel like I can't leave her side until she gets that lung transplant."

"Any update on that?"

Kurt shook his head sadly. "It's not good. Her lungs are shutting down. Carbon dioxide is climbing fast. They wanna put her on BiPAP. She's gonna need that lung sooner rather than later."

"Does she know?"

"Nope. I was supposed to tell her tonight."

In Lauren's room, Brody and Sam were once again working on her. "Line is in. Start the phenylephrine at 10 mics per minute."

"Temp's still climbing to 105," Sam said.

"She's septic."

Jocelyn hung up the phone. "Her gram stain came back. She has anthrax in her blood."

"Septicemic anthrax?" Brody asked. "She's on the same big-gun antibiotics we are. She's a healthy young woman. Could she be immunocompromised?"

"That would explain the pneumonia and why she's been so sick the last few weeks."

Brody pulled up her x-ray and zoomed into a spot on her lung. "I don't think that's pneumonia." He pointed to the spot when Sam came over. "See the well-defined edges here? That's a mass."

In Mr. Neville's room, Kitty was giving him an update. "It's already fading so it looks like the antibiotics are doing their work and you're going to be okay," Kitty said.

"Great. How did that happen?"

"You don't remember the bomb blast and the aftermath and the 'aah it's anthrax'?"

Mr. Neville gave her a blank look. "I'll be honest with you. Sometimes I'm a bit addled."

"We all are, Mr. Neville. We all are," she said, listening to his heart with her stethoscope.

"Where's your husband?"

Kitty pressed her lips together. "He's not my husband. He's…Artie's just a really good guy that…"

"Got in with the wrong girl? Is that you?"

"Yeah, I think it is."

"Look, you are so young and so unformed. How could you possibly know that you're the wrong girl for him? If you care about him at all, let him make that decision. We're smarter than we look, you know. But my balls still really hurt."

"Excuse me?" Kitty asked, cocking her head to the side.

"My balls. They hurt like hell. That's why I'm here."

"Okay. Well, let's take a look."

He pulled up his hospital gown as Artie walked into the exam room. "Okay so…whoa," he said, not expecting to see that when he walked into the room.

"Hold on a minute, Mr. Neville," Kitty said. She turned towards Artie. "Looks like most of his intestines have slipped into his scrotum."

"An inguinal hernia. Yeah."

"It hurts like hell," Mr. Neville said. "Can you fix it?"

Finn walked down the hallway to the nurses' station where Puck and Rachel were trying to get caught up on charts. "Puck, hey. I just checked on the bomber. Vitals are fine and the cops are guarding her," Finn said.

"And I just talked to SWAT. They're gonna take her to the jail ward with full guard."

"Did they get a name?"

"Katherine Santiago," Puck said. "Pharmacist. She lived alone. Still no motive."

Rachel looked between Puck and Finn. "Wait, Puck, did you just say Katherine Santiago?"

"Yeah."

Rachel sighed and got up, walking towards the computer. "I knew I recognized that face. She came in here about six months ago. She was my case." She started typing the patient's name into the system and pulled up her medical file.

"Rachel, you've seen hundreds of patients since then," Finn said.

"Yeah, but I remember this one." She looked over the patient history and sighed. "Excuse me," she said, brushing past Finn and Puck.

She walked into Katherine's room and shut the door slowly. "Evening, Dr. Berry," Katherine said.

"I thought we gave you enough benzos to help you rest comfortably," she said, walking towards the hospital bed.

"I use it to sleep every night at home since…since it happened."

"Would you like some more?"

"No. I'd need more than you can give me to be comfortable."

"I remember you," Rachel said, her voice quivering. "From that night."

"You remember everything?"

Rachel nodded as she felt tears come to her eyes. "It was my last shift before I went to work on the reservation. And, um, I had just been through something hard. And it was all I could think about. But I remember you coming in. It was a hit-and-run. You came in with both your husband and your son. Both DOA. You suffered significant trauma to your chest and your spine. I got your heart going again and I sent you to surgery. We saved you."

"Yes you did," Katherine said.

"So what I don't understand is…why did you do this to us?"

"When I woke up, John and Colby were gone. And all I could think about was making the people who ruined my life suffer."

"You mean the hit-and-run driver?"

"He's not the one who saved me. You. You were the one. You should've just let me die."

"I can only imagine what you've felt," Rachel said quietly.

"You can never imagine!" Katherine yelled. "Losing a child? A husband? He was my best friend," she said as she started crying. "I didn't want to live then and I don't want to live now." She turned to her side and started pulling out her chest tube.

"No, stop!" Rachel yelled, going over to try and stop Katherine from pulling it out. Katherine yanked out the chest tube with one final pull, spraying her hospital gown and Rachel with blood.

"What the hell happened?" Brody asked, rushing in with a nurse behind him.

"She pulled out her test tube."

"Get the crash cart," Brody said.

A few minutes later, Finn replaced Rachel in the trauma room and she watched the scene unfold from outside the room.

"I'm calling time of death," she heard Brody said. "5:48 a.m."

Puck walked up next to Rachel and took her hand. "Look at me. It's not your fault."

Rachel took a jagged breath and didn't bother to hide her falling tears.

In Lauren's trauma room, Sam was telling her the news. "Dr. Brody looked at the x-ray and, uh, he thinks he'll be able to get rid of all of it. With that and chemo, you're gonna be okay."

"Except for the messed up leg part, right?" she asked, gesturing to her leg.

"Look, Lauren, I'm…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you here. If I didn't, this wouldn't have—"

"If you didn't, I'd have a tumor in my lung and I wouldn't know it."

"Guess I never thought about it like that."

"That's because you've been amazing. Pushing me as hard as you can so I can get a scholarship and making me the best soccer player I could be."

"I just know how much you wanted it. When I was your age, I wanted more than anything to be in the NFL. It was my dream more than anything," he said as Lauren started laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," she said, smiling. "But you're just like my dad."

"Your dad?"

"Yes," she said, laughing some more. "He tells the same stories over and over again. Like, I've heard that one hundreds of times. But…that's just not me."

"What's not you?"

"There are a lot of things I'm gonna miss because of my leg. But soccer isn't one of them. I hate soccer."

"Are you serious?"

"I despise it. I've been playing 350 days out of the year since I was six. No weekends, no fun. Just train, train, train so I could get that scholarship and get to college. I don't know. I guess that's all over now."

"No it's not. Lauren, you are the most positive, hard working person I've ever met. You're telling me that if you turn that focus, that energy, to your college applications, you don't think you'll get a scholarship? I got a recommendation letter in me that you won't believe. And, sadly, you've got your college essay right here."

"Yeah. Like, how could they turn down a dual threat, bomb and cancer survivor?"

"Me and you, we're gonna do this together. Okay?"

Up in Brianna's room, Kurt was giving her an update about what was happening. "Don't be sad, Kurt. It's okay. I know there's a plan for me."

"Yes there is. And I'm all over it. You're on every donor list in the country. I check them everyday."

"No. What I mean is that I've always heard that when you die, you go to a better place. Gotta say, I've been in and out of a dozen foster homes, had cystic fibrosis and, uh, now I need a lung transplant. So, if I go, it's gotta be to a better place than this, right?"

"I'm not going to let that happen."

"I've read enough about lung transplants, Kurt. They just don't happen. Could you read to me?" she asked, sniffing as she grabbed her book to hand to Kurt. "I'm feeling a little tired."

"Okay, yeah."

"Okay, you're good to go," Artie said to Mr. Neville. He wrote something down on the chart and left the room. "Hey," he said, almost running into Kitty outside of his hospital room. "Mr. Neville did great in surgery. He's gonna be out in a couple of days."

"Good."

"So, I know we haven't exactly had time to talk about the elephant in the room…"

"Oh, please. Let's not talk about Mr. Neville's scrotum."

Artie laughed. "Well, yeah, there's that too."

"Look, Artie, I like you. I think you're a good guy. You might even…you might be good for me. But I know where this is going and it would – it would ruin our friendship. And maybe even our working together."

"Yeah. I was gonna say the same thing, you know? It's the right call. Sam and Mercedes. Finn and Rachel."

"Rachel and Brody."

"Yeah. It's for the best, right?" Artie said. Kitty nodded. "So, yeah. I'll see you around."

Kitty nodded again as Artie walked off. She waited a few seconds, then turned around to watch him walk away, feeling her heart sink a little bit.

"The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle onto the snow," Kurt read from the book as Brianna started falling asleep. "And instantly, there appeared a box, tied with blue silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very center and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious." He turned the page and noticed Brianna had fallen asleep.

He tucked the upper corner of the page down and set the book on the small tray by her bed. He stood up and gently pressed a kiss to her forehead, hoping it wouldn't wake her up.

Across the hospital, the health inspectors opened the doors, officially ending the hospital lockdown. "Hey, Brody, Artie, can I have a second, everybody?" Puck said, walking towards the nurses' station. "I just…I just – I wanted to say that I have never been so proud. We are on the front lines. This is our job but sometimes we put ourselves in harm's way to help others. We make a difference. It's not about getting knocked down. It's about getting back up. And we will get back up because of you." His phone started ringing and he answered it. "Dr. Puckerman," he said, walking away.

Finn leaned over the ledge of the nurses' station and tapped Rachel on the shoulder. "Hey."

"Hey," Rachel said.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. You know, bomb, anthrax, former patient trying to kill us? Why wouldn't I be?"

"If you need anything, I'm here."

"Thank you," Rachel said, giving Finn a small smile.

His phone started ringing and he grabbed it from his pocket. "Hey. Jess." He laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and gave her a thumbs up as he walked away. "Everything's clear."

On the other side of the nurses' station, Sam was also on his phone. "Wait, you're kidding me. Thanks for letting me know." He hung up his phone and smiled. "Hey, guys, that was the union. We got our raises. The strike's over," he said to Mollie, Jocelyn and Heather.

Puck hung up his phone with an uncertain look on his face. He walked over to where Rachel was standing in complete shock. "It's about time we got some good news, right?" she asked, looking over at him.

"That's debatable."

"What are you talking about?"

"That was the head of the day shift. The reason the nurses' negotiations took so long with management? The hospital is being sold to an insurance company."

"What?" Rachel scoffed.

"And then the company wants to sell off the ER," Puck said.

A few hours later, Rachel was sitting on her couch, some daytime talk show playing in the background that she was barely paying attention to. Katherine Santiago's words from earlier in the morning continued to swirl around her mind and no matter what she did, she couldn't get them out.

She heard light tapping on the door and sighed. She shut off the TV and walked over to the door, seeing Finn standing there. She took a deep breath, trying to compose herself, and opened the door. "Hey," she said, giving him a small smile.

"I brought bagels and coffee," he said, holding up the bag of bagels. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," she said, stepping aside.

"Oh, and this is for you. A large vanilla coffee. Extremely hot."

She took the coffee with a small smile on her face. "Thanks, Finn."

"You want to talk about what Katherine said to you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Puck told me. She didn't have any right to say that to you."

"She didn't know what was going on my life."

"Hey," Finn said, cupping her chin. "You didn't deserve that. Got it?"

"Yeah," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"I'm sorry," Finn said.

"I'm sorry too. I wish...I wish we ended things differently."

Finn set the bagels and his coffee down on the front table and took one of Rachel's hands in his. "Rach?"

"Yeah?"

He slowly closed the distance between the two of them and kissed her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: Between A Rock And A Hard Place**

"Dr. Hudson! It's good to see you," Bennett, Finn and Kurt's near-amputee patient from a year ago, said when Finn and Artie arrived on the scene of an accident.

"You too, Bennett. Meet Artie Abrams."

Bennett nodded in acknowledgment. "Victim's over here."

"What do we got?" Finn asked.

"Jalen Dawson, 17. Wind knocked the crane over, hit him on his head and rolled over onto his leg."

"There's no luck reaching his mom on her cell," someone said. "State patrol is heading to their house now."

"Pupils are fixed and dilated," Artie said.

"Stop bagging," Finn said.

"Finn, there's no corneal reflex."

"Is that bad?"

"This is Clayton Timmons. He owns the quarry," Bennett said. "This is Dr. Hudson and Dr. Abrams."

Finn turned around to face Clayton. "The blow to his head looks like it was too severe. I'm sorry, but he's braindead. He's not gonna make it."

"That's it?" Clayton asked. "He's just a kid. You have to do something."

"I understand that this is hard to hear," Artie said. "But he's suffered total and irreversible loss of brain function."

"All we can do right now is make him as comfortable as possible before he passes," Finn said. "It's gonna be an hour. Maybe less."

"What a damn shame. He was leaving for Duke in two weeks. It's a damn shame."

"Finn, he's young and healthy and his major organs are intact. He could be a donor. And maybe for Brianna."

"Yeah. And if not for her, then somebody else."

At the hospital, Kurt was easing Brianna into a chair in her hospital room. "Okay, Brianna. There you go. Now you don't have to be stuck in that bed all day."

"Thanks," Brianna said in a raspy voice. "Does it go back all the way?"

"Of course it does. Press the buttons."

Brianna smiled as she pressed the buttons. "It's not quite like a roller coaster but it'll do for now."

"I've got more good news for you. You got bumped up on the lung transplant list. You're in the top five."

Brianna shook her head. "That just means my lungs are getting worse. I'm gonna have to go on a ventilator soon, right?"

"We'll figure it out. Look, you've had eight potential donors in the past three weeks. That's promising."

"And none of them matched."

"But the reason you didn't match—"

"Because I have to match not only my blood type, but six surface antigens. It has to be perfect or they'll go to someone else who is perfect. Which is never me."

Kurt pressed his lips together to try to not cry. "You're too smart for your own good sometimes. You know that?" He heard his phone start vibrating and he pulled it out of his pocket, trying to keep the hopeful look on his face at bay. "You got this," he said, walking to another part of the room to take the call. "Hey, Finn, what's going on?"

"I'm on scene with a braindead trauma victim. It's a healthy young college kid. His family hasn't okayed him as a donor yet, but Artie's drawn blood to check for a match."

"Really?" he asked, his voice dropping. "You're bringing him in here?"

"Not yet. He's pinned under a crane at a quarry. We're sending the blood over to you with a trooper. Don't get your hopes up. It's a long shot."

"They aren't. Thanks."

Across the hospital, an elevator dinged and Puck stepped out with Jocelyn and Mollie. "So, it wasn't a rumor?" Jocelyn asked. "The hospital is really getting sold to Hobart insurance?"

"Not necessarily. They made a low-ball offer," Puck said.

"Hobart's ruthless," Mollie said. "They bought my cousin Cherion's hospital in Tulsa. They gutted the staff and turned the ER staff into a plastic surgery center."

"We're so screwed," Jocelyn said.

"Not if we can get the county to take us over," Puck said. "We have a great argument – we're the only ER for this community. I'm banging on budgets to make the numbers work and save our jobs."

"Thanks, Puck, but I'm not holding my breath," Mollie said.

Rachel and Sam came out of one of the trauma rooms. "Let's check it out next week," she said.

"Hey, Rachel," Brody said, coming up to the two of them. "Where's the gallstone patient you paged me about?"

"Trauma three."

Jocelyn turned towards Sam. "Hey. I switched and got Saturday off. I was thinking brunch."

"Uh, I can't, Joss. I'm training clients all day. Maybe Sunday?"

"Yeah. Okay," she said, walking away.

Rachel looked up from the paperwork she was working on and gave Sam a look. "What?" he asked.

"That tone is the same tone that I use on dates when I'm not interested."

"I was good with the Netflix and chill. But now it's all plans and brunch."

"Then be honest with her, okay? End it. Don't waste the woman's time."

"It's not that simple. There's going to be fallout in the workplace, if you know what I mean. And you know exactly what I mean."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "That's mean," she said, pointing her pen at him.

"I told you, I do not want to come here!" someone yelled at the paramedics as they were bringing in a patient.

"What is going on?" Rachel asked, going over to where the paramedics were bringing in a new patient.

"Eighteen-year-old sent from dialysis with a clotted fistula," the paramedic said. "Dad wanted to go somewhere else."

"No, not somewhere else. Anywhere else! Your Dr. Weston is the one that hit him."

"Mr. Martin, Malik, my name is Dr. Berry—"

"He knows who you are. And so do I. He's paralyzed," Mr. Martin said as Brody came out of the trauma room. "He's not stupid."

"Malik?" Brody asked, walking over to where everyone was standing.

"No. Hell no. That bastard doesn't go anywhere near my son."

"Malik's fistula is clotted and he missed dialysis," Rachel said to Brody.

"Then I need to put in a temporary catheter."

"No. Anybody but him."

"Mr. Martin, I'm sorry, but I'm the only surgeon here right now."

"Dr. Weston is right," Rachel said. "Without dialysis, his potassium levels will climb and his heart could stop. Let's get him to trauma two."

"Fine," he said. "But she goes in there too."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "My name is Rachel. And whatever you want."

Back at the quarry, they were getting things squared away with Jalen. "Okay," Finn said to someone on the phone. "We'll keep you updated on our end." He turned towards Artie. "The transplant team is mobilizing now. Let's hope the mom gets here soon."

"His blood pressure's dropping. Here's the blood," Artie said.

Finn handed it to the trooper. "Get this to Dr. Kurt Hummel at San Antonio Memorial ASAP. He's expecting it."

"Help!" someone called near them. "Somebody help!"

"Ignore it," Clayton said, shaking his head. "It's some punk-ass kids from the trailer park up the road. They're always playing pranks."

Someone pulled up on a bike. "We were doing jumps by the pit then Robbie fell in a sinkhole," a kid said.

Finn stood up and followed the kid over. He ran towards the edge and almost slid in. "Hold on, buddy!" he called.

"Help me! I'm sinking," Robbie said, trying to grip on anything that would keep his head above the rapidly falling stones.

Finn jumped down to where Robbie was with a hose in his hand. "Timmons!" he called. "Get Bennett. Now!" He turned his attention back to Robbie. "Grab the hose. Hold on. We're gonna get you out of here."

"We got a ladder, doc," Clayton said. "Just try to pull yourself up."

"Use these," Bennett said, tossing him a pair of scissors. "Have him cut the hose in half to breathe in case he goes under."

Finn cut the hose and handed it to Robbie. "Use the hose to breathe. Grab it."

"He's going under."

Finn wrapped his legs around the rungs of the ladders. "I'm coming Robbie, hold on. Rope," he said, holding out his hand. He tied a knot in the rope and threw it down for Robbie to grab onto and pulled him to safety. "His breathing's getting labored and he's lost consciousness," he said as Bennett and Clayton started pulled the two of them back to safety.

Back at the hospital, tensions were high in Malik's room. "Don't you dare try and make me the asshole and you be his savior," Brandon Martin said to Brody in the hallway.

Rachel looked over at Mollie and took a deep breath and they were getting to work on saving Malik. "This is not good," she said to the nurse.

"Don't you forget who put Malik in that chair."

"I remember every single day," Brody said. "But I also saved Malik's life. And if you would let me, I can make his life better now."

"Better? Yeah? We don't need your pity."

"This isn't pity! I'm trying to help."

"Hey, stop," Rachel said, poking her head out of the trauma room. "Malik does not need the two of you out here fighting. What he does need is dialysis."

"Fine," Brody said. "I'll suture in a line and page nephrology."

Brody walked one way and Brandon started walking the other way. He pulled out his phone and then clutched at his chest. "Mr. Martin?" Rachel asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm calling the private ambulance. I'm taking us back to the dialysis center."

"There's no need to do that."

"No, we're out of here," he said, clutching his chest again, this time doubling over in pain.

"Puck!" Rachel called. "Get a wheelchair."

"What's going on?" he asked, running over next to her.

"Could be anything. Let's get him to trauma one."

Kurt ran down the hallway when he saw Sam coming into the hospital holding Jalen's blood. "Trooper brought the blood in from the scene," Sam said. "Maybe Brianna—"

"Don't even. Let's see if the blood matches first. I'll be in the lab," he said, running back down the hallway.

Back at the quarry, they were working on reviving Robbie before they could go back to the hospital. Finn brushed the tools off of a work table and pointed to it, signaling to the workers that they should lay Robbie down there. "Bennett, get him on high-flow O2."

"Dumbass had it coming," Clayton said.

"You blaming the victim now?" Finn snapped.

"Victim? Please," he scoffed. "Little bastards sneak in here, tag my rigs, mess with my machinery."

"There's something blocking his airway. He can't breathe. Bennett, we need the laryngoscope now. Come on or he's gonna code."

"I'll put an IV. How's it looking?" Bennett asked.

"There's gravel blocking his airway. I can't intubate. We need to crike him now."

Bennett looked through the ambulance bag. "There's not kit in here, Finn."

"What?"

"He's coding," Bennett said. "Starting CPR."

"If we don't have a crike, we're gonna make one ourselves." Finn looked around and stabbed Robbie in his throat as everyone who was gathered around groaned. "Cut the chamber right here. Hand me a bag," he said to Bennett.

"I have never seen that before."

"Sometimes you gotta wing it, right?"

"It's working," Bennett said. "I feel a pulse."

"Bennett, go help Artie," Finn said as the paramedics came in. "Get him to the chopper as fast as you can," Finn said to the paramedics. "Clayton," Finn said, trying to catch his breath. "Is there anyone we can call for Robbie?"

"The sheriff? Kid's a Travers. He'll be in jail by the time he turns 18, just like his brothers."

"Look, I get you're upset."

"I'm upset? Damn straight I'm upset. There's a kid with a full ride to Duke laying over there, braindead and that chucklehead Travers kid survives?"

"No thanks to you," Finn said. "Show some respect or I'll put you in the ER myself."

Outside, Artie was watching as Jalen's mom spent her last moments with her son as Bennett ran over. "Finn's heading out on the chopper. Is that the mother?" Bennett asked.

"Yeah."

"You ask her yet?"

"I wanted to give her some time," Artie said. His phone beeped and he looked at the text message from Kurt. In all capital letters, it said the blood are the first two antigens were matches. Another one came through, asking if he'd talked to the mother yet. "That was Kurt. Brianna's first two antigens matched. So I guess we're gonna need to know now," he said, walking over to where she was sitting with her son.

His mom heard Artie walking over and looked up at him with tears staining her face. "Is he in any pain, doc?"

"He can't feel anything, Mrs. Dawson," Artie said. "I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but is your son an organ donor?"

"A donor?"

"We have a sick little girl at our hospital that will die if she doesn't get new lungs. We thought Jalen might be a match. We don't have much time in these situations. It's a way to salvage—"

"Salvage? You want to _salvage_ him?"

"No, Mrs. Dawson, I'm sorry."

"No. Get away from me. Get the hell away from me," she said as she started crying even harder.

"What do you want to do?" Bennett asked.

"Let's keep him comfortable. Find a tent and get him out of this wind."

Back at the hospital, Malik's father had been admitted. "It's just my ulcer acting up."

"It may be, but your blood pressure is sky high. You're obviously in a lot of pain. When was the last time you saw a doctor?" Rachel asked.

"There's not a lot of time to take care of myself these days. I had to quit my job to take care of Malik."

"That's a lot of adjustment," Rachel said, putting an ultrasound wand to his stomach. "Malik's lucky to have a father so comm…" she trailed off, looking at something on the screen. "Can you pause that?"

"What? What is it, doc?"

"Your pain isn't from an ulcer. You have an aneurysm," she said, pointing to a spot on the screen. "If you look right there, your aorta," she started before cutting cut off by him screaming in pain. "It's starting to tear. Page Dr. Weston," she said to one of the nurses.

A few minutes later, Brody met up with them on the OR floor. "Get him prepped and I'll scrub in," he said.

Rachel turned around to face him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I just…I've been waiting a year to do something for this family besides write a check. And I finally have my shot and I don't know…"

"Hey, hey, hey. You're overthinking this."

"I put Malik in a wheelchair. I can't make him an orphan, too."

"You won't," Rachel said. "I'll scrub in. We can do this. Me and you. Easy peasy."

Brody nodded. "Okay. Let's do it."

Across the hospital, Kurt came up to Puck with a clipboard in his hands. "Puck, I got the blood work back. I told myself I wouldn't get excited but holy crap. Five of the six antigens match and we've never had more than three."

Puck started to tune Kurt out as he listened to the person on the other line on his phone. "Okay. Look, it's an impossible situation."

"It's going to happen she's going to…" Kurt trailed off, getting the feeling Puck wasn't listening to him.

"You did your best," Puck said, hanging up the phone as he turned to look at Kurt.

"Did you hear what I said? She's gonna get her lungs."

"Kurt, that was Artie. Jalen's mother said no."

"She can't say no. Five of the six match. Bri's so close. Why did she say no?"

"I don't know. She's his mother."

"That's not…I gotta get out there."

"To do what, exactly?" Puck called after him.

"Tell her that her sons lungs can save Brianna's life!"

"The woman just lost her only child, Kurt. Just imagine what you're feeling times a thousand."

"I can change her mind."

"Artie is out there. He's doing everything there is to do out there. I need you here. Just take five, clear your head and get back to work."

Jessica walked into the hospital, wanting to talk to Puck. She started walking towards him and stopped, noticing he was in a tense conversation with Kurt. "Hey, handsome," she said, trying to make it less awkward.

"Hey. If you're looking for Finn, he's out in the field—"

"No, actually, I'm looking for you. Finn told me about the Hobart sale. I have an MBA and he thought I could help since you hate paperwork." She looked at a large stack of binders and papers. "Are those the budgets?"

"Uh, yeah. I've been trying to look for cuts so the county can take us over and keep Hobart away."

"That's smart. I could help you crunch numbers. I might see something that you don't. It'd be a shame to see the ER end up in the wrong hands."

"That's really generous."

"Yeah, well, it'll help me get laid later," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm pretty sure you don't need these to get that. But, sure. Really? I really could use the help. Break room is all yours."

"Perfect," Jessica said, picking up the files as she started walking to the break room.

On the helicopter, Finn was giving an update on Robbie's condition. "I got all the gravel out and I'm gonna pull the crike now." He pulled out the tubing and Robbie started coughing. "Take it slow," he said. "You're gonna be hurting for awhile."

"You risked your life for me."

"Yeah. I couldn't let a fellow rider down. So what happened out there?"

"I went out to video the chopper on my phone. The gravel shifted on me like a sinkhole."

"Your parents know where you are?"

"My dad's on a barstool somewhere and my mom bailed on us."

"Clayton said you were a Travers. Does that mean something?"

"My brothers are wild. He hates us. The whole town hates us."

"Me and my brother were like that. The Hudson boys. I tried to outdo him. I stole a car. The cops threw me in Baltimore lockup for being a dumbass."

Robbie laughed. "And now you save dumbasses."

"Yeah. I guess I just decided to not listen to all the shit people were saying about me. I bet you could too."

"I'm not exactly college material."

"Neither was I. Until I decided to do something about it. I'll make you a deal, okay? You get straights Bs and I'll buy you a bike."

"My legs," Robbie said, gasping. "They're burning up. What's happening? It burns. It really burns."

Back at the hospital, Kurt was inside the hospital chapel, sending a silent prayer to whoever was listening. "I miss you too, baby," he heard someone say behind him as the door opened. "You're so dirty. Say it again."

Kurt turned around and gave the unwelcome guest an evil look.

Ray the orderly looked over at Kurt with wide eyes. "Sorry. Uh, no one's ever in here."

"I am, Ray. So take your booty call somewhere else."

Ray left only for the door to open almost immediately. "Hey, sorry," Nina, Brianna's social worker, said, coming into the chapel. "I didn't mean to bother you."

"No, it's fine."

"I just talked to Sam about Brianna."

"So you heard the mother wouldn't approve the donation."

"Yeah," she said, sitting next to Kurt. "That's why I'm here." She looked over at Kurt ad raised an eyebrow. "You never see doctors in here. They'd rather play god than talk to god." She sighed and leaned back. "I like it here. It feels like home. I was raised in the church. Literally."

"Your dad was a preacher?"

"He ran a bodega in the Lower Ninth Ward. We lost everything in Katrina. We wound up in a FEMA trailer here. Waited two years for the government to help. Then a Methodist church took us in and helped us get on our feet again."

"Is that why you're a social worker?"

"Kids are powerless in the system. And I hated how that felt. Anyway," she said, sighing. "We should probably do what we came here for."

At the quarry, Artie walked up to Mrs. Dawson and gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry about earlier, Mrs. Dawson. I can't imagine what you must be going through."

"His dad was never in the picture. It was just me and him. He was going to be the first person in my family to go to college."

"He sounds like an awesome kid."

"Yeah. He was my golden boy. I always thought he was going to change the world."

"Well, he still can. Whatever you want to do is fine. And I am totally on your side. But I thought you should know that we found Jalen's wallet in his locker," Artie said, taking it out of his pocket. "He was a donor," he said, handing Jalen's license to his mother.

"That's what that means?" she asked, looking at the small symbol on the license. "He never mentioned it."

"The good ones rarely do. I am so sorry for your loss." He got up and walked away to give her a few more moments with her son.

A little while later, Kurt was with a patient when his phone started ringing. "Let's run some tests, okay?" he said to the nurse as he stepped out of the room to answer the call. "Hey," he said, listening to who was on the other end. He ran a hand through his hair. "No way. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. No, thank you! I'm gonna kiss you when you get back. Yeah, I am. There's nothing you can do about it. I'll see you soon." He hung up his phone as he reached the nurses' station. "Unbelievable. Artie convinced the mom to say yes. Brianna's getting her lungs!" he said to everyone gathered around.

"How'd he do that?" Puck asked.

"I don't know. You gotta believe!"

"Sometimes a Hail Mary just works," Nina said.

"Somebody call the transplant team. I'm gonna book an OR," Kurt said, walking down the hallway.

In the OR, things were going well in Brandon's room. "BP is holding in the 90s," Rachel said.

"Good. Cutting the peritoneum now," Brody said.

"What can I do?"

"Just retract and make a window in the mesentery and we'll be there."

Rachel did that and a whole bunch of blood came into the field. "Damn it. His aorta ruptured."

"Pressure's down to 64 systolic," one of the nurses said. Brody froze. "Still falling. 43 over 22."

"Dr. Weston, do we tie off the proximal aorta or use a clamp. I always forget that part," Rachel said, trying to unfreeze Brody.

"Uh, a clamp. A tie won't hold. A debakey, now."

Rachel watched as he worked. "The bleeding stopped," she said.

"BP's up. 86 systolic," the nurse said.

"Good. As soon as we get distal control, we'll fix the aorta. Prep a three centimeter Goretex graft."

"Way to get him back, Brody," Rachel said.

Puck walked into the breakroom where Jessica was working. "Want some coffee?" he asked.

"That'd be great."

"How's it looking?" he asked, going over to the coffeepots.

"Like the Titanic. You have too many patients who can't afford to pay and you're giving them elite care."

"Well, that's how we roll. Treat everybody like family."

"Which is why your hospital is broke and going to be sold. Here," she said, handing him a business card.

"What's this? Michael Fuller?"

"It's a headhunter I know. Your name came up in conversation. He's been tracking you. I think you should give him a call. He might have a better gig for you. More money, a shorter commute."

"It's nice to be hunted," Puck said.

"Yeah, there's that. You're taking care of your mom, right? You'll have a kid in college soon."

"Yeah, Beth wants to be a doctor. I told her to do something more reliable, like be a poet."

"Well, then you'll have a backup plan, then, right?"

"What about the hospital's plan?"

"I'm working on it. But you should call Michael."

"Yeah. Sure. Thanks."

At the front of the hospital, Finn came in with Robbie. "Incoming!" he yelled.

"What happened out there?" Puck asked, running out from the breakroom.

"He developed chemical burns in the chopper and started going into V-tach and he's coding."

"Finn, you were in there too. What were you exposed to?" Sam asked.

"I don't know but it hurts like a bastard."

"Get Kurt to help you—"

"No, there's no time. He's in respiratory distress."

"Mollie, we need a bed in here!" Sam yelled as they went into a trauma room.

"We can't. Just keep him on the gurney."

Kurt slid open the door to Brianna's room. "You paged me? It's two in the morning. Bri, you should be sleeping."

"I heard the nurses talking. They said I'm gonna get the transplant."

Kurt sighed. "Of course you heard them." He walked into her room and sat down next to her bed. "I was waiting to tell you. But, yeah. The transplant team is on the way."

"Cool."

"Bri," he said, taking one of her hands. "It's okay to be scared. It's normal."

"It's weird. Like, I want the transplant to happen. But I'm a little freaked out. They'd be removing my lungs. They're kind of attached to me."

"But you're going to be asleep the whole time."

"But what if I don't wake up?"

"Hey," Kurt said. "These doctors, they perform miracles every day. It's what they do. I get it. I do. But a lot of random things fell in place to make this happen. It's not a coincidence."

"You really believe that?"

"Yes. Or nothing we do matters. And I can't live like that? You?" he asked. "No."

"Thanks," Brianna said.

At the quarry, Bennett came into the tent with a saw. "We're hooked up to a power generation. Should be enough power," he said, handed it to Artie.

"Let's get started," Artie said, kneeling down. He turned on the saw. "I did a nerve block and double morphine. He won't feel anything," he said over the sound of the saw.

Back at the hospital, Finn and Puck were working on reviving Robbie. "Clear," Finn said once the paddles were charged. He waited for Puck to move away before putting the paddles on Robbie's chest.

"Refractory V-tach. Third shock, no response," Puck said.

"It doesn't make any sense. He's 14, young and healthy."

"Hand me 100 of lido," Puck said, about injecting it into the central line when the syringe was handed to him.

"Wait, Puck, look at his QT intervals."

"It's prolonged. The calcium in his blood is super low. That's what's causing all this."

"Okay, give me an amp of calcium chloride," Finn said to Mollie. He injected it into the central line and watched the heart monitor, breathing a sigh of relief when his stats started improving.

"Sinus rhythm," Mollie said. "Good call."

"Strong pulse too."

"Now we just need to figure out what's jacked up his electrolytes," Finn said.

"Yours too," Puck said. "Mollie, can you run a full chemistry on the both of them?"

"Puck, I'm fine."

"It's just to be sure. You were in the gravel pit too."

"Let's go, Superman," Mollie said. "You're not coding too."

Outside of the OR, Brody was giving directions about what he wanted done with Malik's father. "After you get him to recovery, I want crit checks every 30 minutes."

"See," Rachel said, taking off her surgical goggles. "You had it the whole time."

"You can stop pretending now, Rachel. It's just us."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said as she started walking away.

Brody followed her. "You saved my ass in there. I would not have gotten through this surgery without you. Is that clear enough?"

Rachel took off the surgical gown and threw it away. "You would have done the same thing for me." She walked over to the scrub station and started washing her hands. "You know, I don't blame you for being scared. The family has changed your life and you've changed theirs. You're bound to each other."

"I'm just glad you were on tonight."

Rachel nodded and gave him a small smile. "Me too."

At the front of the hospital, Kurt came in with the head of the transplant team. "Sam, this is Dr. Angara. She runs the transplant team for this region. Make sure she gets everything she needs."

Dr. Angara shook Sam's hand. "I just need a free OR. We can hit the ground running. The donation center said you have a transplant candidate here," she said, turning to Kurt.

"Yeah. She's 13 and she's got cystic fibrosis. She's at the top of the list."

"Then we'll do it tonight."

"Good."

"I'm gonna make some calls," Nina said. "I don't normally get to share good news at two in the morning."

Kurt nodded and started walking down the hall with Sam. "You know," he started, "Nina's been asking about you."

"She asked you about me. That girl's not shy," he said, walking into one of the break rooms.

"And you're a delicate flower?" Kurt asked. "Ask her out."

"I like her. I do. But…" he said, trailing off as he looked out the window.

Kurt followed his gaze and saw him staring at Jocelyn. "Right."

"Joss is fun – nothing serious."

"Oh, so you're going to tread water your whole life so you don't get hurt again. That ain't living, Sam. That's dying."

"Incoming!" they heard Artie yell.

Kurt poked his head out of the break room. "Dr. Angara, the donor's here!"

"He's posturing. I gave him a shot of mannitol. You don't have much time," Artie said.

"We'll take it from here," she said, taking the gurney towards the elevators.

Kurt saw Bennett standing there and smiled. "Holy smokes. Look at you!" Kurt said, giving him a high five and a shoulder pat. "Were you out there while this guy was showing off and doing a solo field amputation?"

"Thank Bennett. He was a rock star," Artie said.

"I wouldn't have been there without you," Bennett said, shaking Kurt's hand.

Kurt nodded and hugged Artie. "Thank you for getting her to say yes."

Artie returned the hug and saw someone coming into the hospital. "That's Jalen's mom," he said, giving a small smile to the woman. He walked over to where she was standing. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Can I see him one more time?"

"Yeah, of course," Artie said.

Malik and his father were put in the same hospital room and Brody was waiting for Brandon to wake up so he could tell him what happened. "We got in there just in time, Mr. Martin," Brody said as he started to wake up from the anesthesia. "If you would have left, you would have bled out on the freeway."

"I'm grateful for you saving my life, Dr. Weston," he said weakly. "If you think I'm gonna forgive you for what you did to my boy, that ain't happening."

"I'm not asking for you to forgive me. I'm asking for you to let me help."

"I forgive you," Malik said from his hospital bed. "All this hate – it almost killed you. Dad, just let it go."

"Boy, you don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm not a boy. I'm 18. I can make my own decisions. I want to explore some of the treatments that Dr. Weston researched for me."

"That's great, Malik," Brody said. "But how did you know?"

"I told him," Rachel said, coming into the room. "I thought Malik needed to know his options."

"You talked to my boy without my consent?"

"Yes, I did. Mr. Martin, this accident has torn apart your lives. But when are you going to start putting them back together again? Malik wants to, but you need to. You got a second chance. Don't waste it."

"Dad, please," Malik said as Rachel left the room.

His father turned to Brody. "So. Tell me about some of these treatments."

Across the hospital, Finn was putting some lotion on the chemical burns on his arms as Jessica walked up to where he was standing. "Finn," she said, looking at him. "They said you got burned. Oh my god."

"I got exposed to something in the field. I'm still waiting on the labs. By the way, thank you for helping Puck out with the books tonight. That was cool."

"It's no big deal. Really."

"No, it is. To me. It's his crusade and it means a lot, so…"

"Are you okay?"

"Hey, Finn," Robbie said, getting pushed in a wheelchair.

"Hey, Evel Knievel is back out of CT. I got him," he said to the orderly. "I heard you fractured a few ribs," he said.

"Yeah. So, did my dad get here?"

"About that…I spoke to the sheriff. They checked his work but he never showed up today. I'm sorry," Finn said. "You feeling better?"

"Um," he said, seeing Jessica standing there. "Much better now."

"Robbie, this is Jessica. My girlfriend."

"Your girlfriend?" Jessica said. "Well, that's a first."

"Yeah, well, I gotta keep you guessing. I'll catch you later?" he asked as he started pushing Robbie's wheelchair.

Jessica nodded. "Bye, Robbie."

Hearing her voice, Puck looked up from the nurses' station. "Hey, Jessica?" He got up and walked over to her. "Here's that card. If the ship's going down, I'm going down with it."

"That's a mistake. You need to have a plan."

"I have a plan. What do you think about this?" he said, showing her something.

"That's not gonna happen."

"We make it about local jobs."

"That's not going to happen because Hobart already won the bid," Jessica said, cutting him off.

"Where'd you hear that?"

"Hobart."

"Why do you…"

"They hired me to run their transition team."

"Hired you? You're a pharm rep."

"With an MBA."

"Wait a second, you've seen all our books. I trusted you! You've been playing us this whole time?"

"Puck…"

"Spare me," he said, walking away.

"I get it. I get that you're pissed. But there's one more thing that you need to know."

"What, that you're the devil?"

"You're the first one that's going to be fired. Hobart wants their own ER chief. You don't have to be a martyr. Just take the damn card," she said, putting it in his scrubs pocket as she walked away.

Once Robbie was settled in his room, Finn worked on getting lotion on the burns. "Are those cops here for me?" Robbie asked, looking out the window.

"Yep," Finn said. "Clayton filed a complaint." He sighed. "Look, I know you think you've got no other option right now. That the story of your life is already written. But it's not. There's good people out there, people you haven't even met yet, who are going to change your life for the better. Trust me."

"Yeah, sure."

"And the other kid, Jalen?"

"The Brainiac? He's in my brother Garret's class."

"Not anymore. Because he's dead. But you're still here. What are you going to do with that chance?" Finn asked him. "Don't screw it up."

Outside of the OR, Kurt and Artie were watching the transplant team remove Jalen's organs. "I didn't think we had a prayer of making it back," Artie said.

"Sometimes a prayer is all you need," Kurt said.

Puck walked up next to them. "Hey."

"Hey. Hell of a night, huh?" Kurt said. "I'm sitting courtside. I'm not letting Brianna's lungs out of my sight."

Puck sighed. "There's no other way to say this. Her final labs came back. Her last antigen doesn't match Jalen's. She's not getting the lungs."

"Run it again," Kurt said. "That's a mistake."

"They did," Puck said. "Twice."

"Hold on," Artie said. "She matched blood type and five of the six antigens. It all lined up. When do you not get the sixth?"

"I don't know. But there's a patient at St. John's matching all six. So the odds of rejection are a lot less. I'm sorry, Kurt."

Kurt shook his head. "It's not fair. She's a kid. She doesn't deserve this."

"You're right," Puck said. "She doesn't."

At the front of the hospital, Sam walked up to Jocelyn. "Hey, Joss, um…about Sunday."

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that. Look, I didn't want to do this on our shift, but I thought you should hear it from me. I got back with Ray. My ex."

"Ray?" Sam asked. "That Ray?" he asked, pointing to the orderly who was eating a patient's breakfast.

"Yeah. I mean, we kept it on the DL and you know how it is dating someone at work."

"Yeah, I do know."

"You're a great guy, Sam. You're gonna find someone awesome."

Outside of the hospital, Artie was sitting with Jalen's mom. "So that little girl got her lungs," she said.

"No, actually, she didn't."

"So it was a waste?"

Artie shook his head and pointed at the coolers the transplant team was loading into different cars. "Each one of these coolers contains a match for Jalen's organs. Edward Curry – heart. Laurie Danario – liver. Serena Owens – kidneys. Juan Alvarez – lungs."

"So that's it," she said. "Jalen's gone now."

"Not to them, he's not. See, you were right. Your son did change the world," Artie said.

In the locker room, it wasn't looking good between Annie and Finn. "Puck told me everything," Finn said, glaring at her.

"Hobart offered me the job weeks ago. They wanted to know more about the ER and the people who worked here," Jessica said.

"So this is all lies – you and me?"

"No, I didn't lie to you, Finn."

"You lied to me every time you didn't tell me. You're working for people who want to destroy everything I care about. Who sees sick people as profit centers," he said, slamming his locker.

"I didn't know then that I would feel the way I do now. I mean, why do you think I told Puck? That's why I told him. To save him."

"After you saved the deal. You used me to get to my friends. I know they're just numbers on a ledger to you, but to me, they're my family. You mess with them and I'm done with you. I am done with you," he said, leaving the locker room.

"Finn," she said, following him out. "I made a mistake! You can punish me or you can let me fix it."

"Nope, there's nothing to fix, Jessica, because you're what's broken. Not the hospital, not the patients, not the people who work here. It's you."

"Wait, please. Just listen to me for one second. I'm sorry but I…I think I love you."

Finn laughed. "Yeah. I was beginning to think the same way about you, too. Thanks for clearing that up for me." He walked down the hallway and knocked multiple boxes from the top of a supply cart off.

In the elevator, Nina was talking to Sam. "Yeah, I know she's at the top of the list. It's just not a piece of cake."

"Well, whatever I can do to help, you tell me," Sam said.

"Will do," she said, getting out of the elevator.

"Hey," he said, jogging out after her. "If you want, we could talk about this more over breakfast."

"What about your complicated thing?" she asked, not bothering to stop walking.

"I cleared that up. I just have to be upfront with people. It's who I am."

"Hm, well, that and your nurse friend just got back together with her boyfriend. It is amazing what you can hear when you think nobody's listening," she said as she left the hospital.

"It's always the quiet ones."

"But you know what?" she said, turning around to face him. "I'm not that quiet. I'll see you at breakfast."

In Brianna's room, Kurt was breaking the news to her. "It's not your fault," she said.

"I got ahead of myself and I let you down."

"You didn't. I always start off with the worst-case scenario anyway."

"Well, how's this for a scenario? After you get your lung transplant, you come stay with me and Blaine?"

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't…I wouldn't ask you if I wasn't. I mean, it's up to you."

"Are you kidding? Nothing would make me happier."

"You'd have your own room and your own yard and two wildly overprotective parents."

"You'd really let me stay with you until I found a new foster family?" Brianna asked.

"No. Bri, we want you to be a part of our family. We want to adopt you. If you'll have us."

Brianna launched herself into Kurt's arms. "Yes! Thank you." She smiled at him. "Now pass me that remote.

Kurt handed her an Xbox remote and they immediately started playing a game.

After the shift ended, Rachel walked out of the hospital and saw Finn leaning against the wall. "I heard about what happened," she said, looking up at him as she shielded the sun from her eyes. "That was incredibly shitty of Jessica to do that to you. I'm really sorry, Finn."

Finn looked at her and ran a hand through his hair. "You wanna get a drink?"

Rachel blinked, not expecting him to say that. "Get a drink?"

"Yeah. It'll have to be at your place since Annie's still at my place."

Rachel felt herself start to nod. "Okay. A drink. Let's go."

A little while later, the two of them were laying on Rachel's living room floor, sharing a bottle of rum as they both tried to forget about the events of the last two shifts. "Do you remember that time Thad surprised you in Baltimore and he walked in on the two of us?" Rachel asked, laughing at the distant memory.

Things were so much simpler back then.

Finn smiled. "He never let me live it down." He took a long swig from the bottle and set it back down between the two of them. "Remember when your mother was in town once and we were in the middle of a fight and she insisted the three of us should all go out for dinner?"

"I threw a dinner roll at you," Rachel said, taking a small sip of the rum. "I don't even remember what we were fighting about."

"I don't remember either. But I do remember picking up the roll and eating it. I wasn't going to let the bread go to waste."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Such a typical Finn response." She pushed herself up on her elbows and sighed. "I should go to bed. I haven't been sleeping well lately."

"Yeah, me neither. But for different reasons."

Rachel gave him a look. "You never know. You know?" She started giggling and laid back down. "Maybe the floor is going to be my bed for the night."

"Hey, Rach?" Finn asked. "Our kiss...what did it mean?"

"Well..." Rachel started. "I don't know. You're with Jessica. Well, you were. I'm assuming that's not happening anymore."

"No way in hell."

Rachel smiled and moved closer to him. "Let's sleep on it." She rolled over and closed her eyes.

"Is this when you fall asleep mid-conversation?"

Rachel smiled. "Maybe," she said before falling asleep.

Finn waited a few minutes and smiled to himself. Some things never change.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Trust Issues**

"Tell me again real quick," Kitty said one afternoon while she was talking to Rachel. "How'd you meet this new guy?"

"In line at the grocery store," Rachel said.

"Oh. How very 1950s housewife of you. Well, he seems like a nice guy."

"Yeah, you know, so far, so good, which I need right now. Just…normal," she said, smiling at him as he walked over with two ice cream cones in his hands. Artie followed behind him, holding one for him and one for Kitty. "Are you okay?" she asked her date, noticing he was sweating like crazy.

"Yeah. It's just hot today."

"Actually, it's unseasonably cool right now in San Antonio," Artie said.

"Oh. It must just be me then. How long have you and Kitty been together?" he asked, causing Rachel to try and hold back a laugh.

"Oh, uh, well…"

"Nope," Kitty said. "We're not together. We don't use labels."

"Well, labels are there for a reason," Artie said. "I mean, how do you define together, Matt? I mean, there's together. And then there's _together_. Right?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Rachel asked Matt quietly. "You're really sweating a lot."

"Yeah, I'm good," he said, breathing heavily. He passed out and fell through a glass window, his head smacking against the fall.

"Help move furniture," Rachel said to Kitty and Artie as the two of them sprang into action to work on saving him.

"I'll call 911 and meet the ambulance," Artie said.

"He has a punctured femoral artery," Rachel said. "Cut the straps off my purse. We're going to use it as a tourniquet."

Kitty did that and tied the straps around his leg. "He's still bleeding," she said after they waited a few seconds.

"Okay, let's roll him over." Rachel and Kitty rolled him onto his side and Rachel sighed. "Great. He's got a puncture in his butt."

"We can't tourniquet it. What do we do?"

"I have to clamp the artery with my finger," Rachel said, taking the shard of glass out as she stuck her finger in it. "This date just keeps getting better."

Across town at a bar, Kurt and Finn were watching a college football game and Finn's favorite team had just scored a touchdown. The whole bar started cheering, Finn included.

"Nice to hang out with you," Kurt said, raising his glass. "Haven't done it in awhile." His phone started ringing and he looked at the caller ID. "It's Syd. She's in town signing her discharge papers. She's gonna drop off a letter of recommendation later tonight for Brianna's social worker."

"Nice," Finn said.

"And you? The hospital sale, that's a kick in the nuts."

"Right? Jessica," he said, shaking his head. "I did not see that one coming. It just shows you not to trust women, huh?" he said, finishing the rest of his beer.

"Maybe just that woman. I wouldn't slam the entire gender."

"And then," Finn said, ignoring Kurt, "Annie tells me today that she's thinking of moving in with Brody. Brody. Can you believe that? Like, Brody, Brody."

"I got that."

"So, to summarize, betrayed by a girlfriend, Annie ditching me and the ER being sold. Thank you," he said, raising his empty glass. "Can I get another?" he asked the bartender.

"I thought you cut down on the drinking."

"Yeah. I was. And look where it got me," he said, laughing.

"Okay, well, I'm gonna go. I wanna see Brianna before she goes to sleep." He got up and laid a hand on Finn's shoulder. "Take an Uber home."

"Yeah, yeah," Finn said, waving him off.

"You can have this seat right here," Kurt said to a woman who was standing behind him.

"Oh, thank you," she said, sitting down next to Finn.

"You hitting on my girl?" a guy asked, getting up in Kurt's face.

Kurt chuckled. "Trust me, I'm not hitting on your girl."

"Oh, so you're saying she's ugly."

"No, I just offered her my chair."

"Brian," she said, getting up.

Kurt shook his head and started walking away. "That's right, you better leave, you little bitch," Brian said.

"Whoa," Finn said, wobbly standing up. "What did you just call my friend?"

"Finn, no," Kurt said.

"I said he's a little bitch."

"Finn, let it go," Kurt said.

Instead, Finn punched the guy in the face. Brian punched him back and the two of them started fighting.

At the hospital, Brody was walking around with Annie. "You need to stay focused on shadowing Sam tonight," he said, squeezing her shoulders. "First step back towards nursing school. I'm really proud of you."

"Thank you," Annie said. "I'm excited. I'm a little distracted. I had a rough start to the night."

"What happened?"

"I told Finn that we were talking about moving in together. He did not take it well."

"Oh. You told him that? I mean, I know we had talked about it one time but we hadn't decided anything about it."

"Oh…okay."

"I mean, doesn't it seem fast? I know we had that moment where we were lying in bed and we were talking about what if?"

"You know what, I jumped the gun. Forget I said anything."

"Annie…"

"There's my boss, I better go," she said, walking towards Sam.

"First patient's up, let's go," Sam said as Puck ran down the hall.

"What do we got?" Puck asked.

"Female, late 20s, she's tachy with a stable BP. Patient lost control of her bicycle and fell on her chin," the paramedic said.

"She's choking on her blood, get her to trauma one," Puck said. Once they got in there, Puck was trying to intubate her. "I can't find the cut with all this blood. More suction, Sam."

"On it."

"Hold it," Puck said once she kept choking. "She's not choking on blood. It's something in the back of her throat. Can we get forceps?"

The patient leaned forward and started coughing. Sam held her mouth open and Puck went in with the forceps, pulling out something covered in blood. "What it is?" Sam asked.

"It's a piece of food." He put the forceps into a bucket. "Let's set up to suture her chin."

"I'll get the kit," Annie said as the patient started choking again.

"I thought I got it all," Puck said.

Annie held the base of the patient's neck as Puck looked in her throat with a flashlight. "What do you see?" Sam asked.

"Nothing. That's the problem. There's nothing in there."

Out in the lobby, Brody met up with Rachel and her date. "Hey, what do you have?"

"Male, 42, status post syncopal fall with multiple lacs from broken glass. He's got a punctured femoral and sacral artery. BP is the 90s," Rachel said.

"I'll stitch him up in trauma two and send him up for an angiogram to see if he needs more surgery," Brody said as they wheeled the gurney to the trauma room.

"Um, no, Artie can do it. He's right behind me with Kitty."

"What, were you guys…"

"Hanging out," Rachel said, noncommittally.

"So where'd he come from?"

Rachel sighed. "We were on a double date."

"And now you've got your finger in his butt cheek," Brody taunted. "This should be interesting."

"Shut up."

In the other patient's room, Puck was talking to her once she'd stop choking. "There wasn't any other food in your throat. So we need to figure out what's been causing you to gag. Has this happened before?"

"Yeah. A lot lately. That's why I fell off my bike. I was riding in Brackenridge Park and I took a bite of a power bar and started choking and I just lost control of my bike. I've been having trouble keeping food down lately."

"You do look a little thin, Dana," Puck said. "Is there something else going on?"

"Here we go. You think I have an eating disorder, just like all the other doctors."

"What other doctors?"

"All of them. I've been to so many I've lost count. I'm not purposefully starving myself. I just – I can't eat."

"Are you on any medications for it?" Puck asked, walking over to her bedside. "You seem a little anxious."

"I took Xanax but it zonked me out so I stopped doing that. I went holistic, I've tried yoga, meditation, exercise. I even went to Peru to see a shaman. I took ayahuasca and went on a vision quest."

"Wow. I would not have recommended that."

"The ayahuasca made me puke for three days and I feel like I haven't stopped since I got back. This has ruined my life. So, if you're finished, I really just want to go home to my dog."

"Yeah, I'm going to give you a shot of a strong antacid in case this is from reflux. And then let's check the test." He gave her a small smiled and walked out of her room and walked towards the nurses' station.

"Puck!" Jessica said, walking towards him. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"I don't have anything to say to you, Lucifer."

"Look, I'm on your side. I'm trying to help you."

"By secretly working for the company that's gonna fire everybody? You might want to rethink that strategy."

"You were going to get fired anyway, okay? I didn't have anything to do with that. And I did give you a heads up."

"You gave them all our secrets. Now they may fire everybody."

Jessica sighed. "Is Finn okay?"

"You should ask him," he said, typing something into a computer.

"He won't answer any of my calls."

"Good for him. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to take care of my patient while I still have a job here."

Jessica watched him walk away and sighed. "Mollie, I'm gonna need an office after the meeting. Can you help me, please?"

She raised an eyebrow. "After what you did to Puck, you can try the local Starbucks. Bye, Felicia."

Jessica scoffed and walked away as Jocelyn came up to Mollie. "I hate her," she said. "Any news about what Hobart's going to do yet?"

"Besides replacing Puck, I heard they're going to turn this place into an HMO."

"Are the nurses safe?"

Mollie shrugged. "We've got a union."

Once Brody had sutured Mike's butt, Rachel went to the locker rooms to change and wash her hands many times. She came back into the trauma room and avoided looking Brody in the eye.

"So, this guy went on a date with you while he was high."

Rachel sighed. "We need to get a tox screen on him." She smiled apologetically at the nurse and took her spot. "Kitty seems to think he's on molly."

"Molly? Well, it's not the pure MDMA that all the kids think it is, right? It's cut with all kinds of stuff – aspirin, bath salts, cocaine."

"Exactly. So he could be having an adverse reaction to any number of those things."

"We don't know when he took or what he took?"

Rachel scoffed. "Oh, I really know how to pick them. He just seemed so normal."

"Well, just because he took molly on a date doesn't make him not normal." He looked up and saw the expression on Rachel's face. "I mean, I'm not saying it bodes well for the future of your relationship."

The door opened and Rachel saw Annie standing there. "Hey, Rachel, do you need help with anything? Sam asked me to check in."

"Annie," she said, looking at Brody. "I forgot that you were shadowing here now."

"Yeah. Do you need anything?"

"Um, yeah, actually, you can help us out. We need an emergency contact for this patient. Can you maybe go through his phone and see if you can find someone in his social circle who can answer some questions?"

"Yeah, I'd be glad to do it," Annie said, taking the phone.

The door opened again and Artie poked his head in. "They found a match for Brianna. Lungs are on the way."

"Finally," Rachel said.

"That's great," Brody said. "Get the OR prepped and Brianna ready."

"You should go. I can take care of this. Artie, go find Kurt and see if he's checked in yet."

Across town, Kurt's phone started ringing in a plastic bag in the police station. Kurt started walking around the holding cell he was in with Finn, giving him a dirty look as he did.

At the hospital, Sam and Nina were trying to track down Kurt. "Nothing still?" Nina asked. "I'm going to kill Kurt. I'll go up and sit with Bri."

"I'll keep trying," Sam said.

Kitty and Puck walked up to the nurses' station as Kitty was looking over Dana's history. "Whoa, your patient's had nine GI work-ups. What's the deal?"

"Stomach cramping, vomiting, choking and gagging almost nonstop. Look at her history and tell me what you think," Puck said, handing her the iPad.

"She just had a CT a couple of weeks ago and it was totally normal. All her markers for Celiac and Crohn's disease are normal. Severe GERD?"

"Maybe. What does her endoscopy show?"

"She never had one. Looks like it was ordered a couple of times, but insurance wouldn't cover it. The GI consults all say her symptoms are likely psychosomatic."

"Well, anxiety can wreak havoc on the body. Once she gets that under control, I'm sure her GI symptoms will miraculously go away. I'm gonna discharge her. Will you start the paperwork?"

"But, um, Puck, can I just say something? It's not really like you to just dismiss someone as nuts."

"I'm not, Kitty. I'm looking at her history and I'm going by what I see."

"And so am I. You're the one who told me you have to find a way to emotionally connect with the patient. You're being like all the other doctors. You're not listening to her. If we all did that, we'd be really sucky doctors. Not that you're a sucky doctor, because you're not, boss man."

"You're right," Puck said, sighing. "I'm in a pissy mood. I'm letting it cloud my judgment. Let's do the endoscopy. We'll label it as emergent so the insurance doesn't flag it."

"Yeah. Screw the corporation!"

"You've never done an endo. Come join me."

"Absolutely," she said, walking away as Rachel came up.

"Hey, Kitty," Rachel said.

"I'll be right there," she called after Puck.

Rachel handed her an iPad. "You were right. He's on molly."

Kitty looked at it. "Silver lining. Your date's got a good drug dealer. It was the pure stuff."

"Comforting. I swear, I thought he was normal, you know? That's what I liked about him."

"Excuse me," someone said, coming into the hospital. "You're Rachel, right? I just got a phone call about Matt being brought to the ER. Is he okay?"

"Sorry, what's your relationship to the patient?"

"I'm Christina, his wife."

"His wife?" Rachel asked.

At the jail, Kurt turned towards Finn. "Why? Why you gotta start a fight?"

"A guy got in your face and called you a little bitch. He needed his ass handed to him."

"So what? Who cares what some drunk prick has to say? Now, because you had to prove what a man you are, I'm stuck in here, missing my shift and Brianna." He walked towards the front of the holding cell. "Can I get my phone call now? I'm a doctor, I have to call in to work."

"Kurt, you're very loud."

"Anybody?" he yelled louder.

In Matt's room, Rachel brought Christina in to see her husband. "So, you're in an open marriage?"

"Actually, we like to call ourselves polyamorous."

"Okay…which means what, exactly?"

"We're involved with more than one person in a romantic, sexual and loving relationship."

"Whoa, sorry," Brody said, coming in. "That sounded personal."

"Oh, no, it's okay. I have no secrets," Christina said.

"Christina, this is Dr. Weston. He sewed up Matt's wounds. Christina is Matt's wife," she said, giving Brody a pointed look.

"Okay," Brody said. "So, I reviewed Matt's angiogram and it looks like he doesn't need any more surgery, which is great. It looks like Dr. Berry's quick thinking probably saved his life."

"Thank you," Christina said.

"Dr. Berry, if you need me, I'll be charting at the nurses' station," Brody said.

Rachel waited until Brody left before turning to Christina. "So, um, did Matt tell you that he was seeing me?"

"Of course. He told me when he met you. He even showed me your Facebook profile. You seemed lovely so I gave him my blessing."

Jordan frowned. Her Facebook that was currently covered in photos from throwback photos of her and Santana from their crazy college and post-grad lives. "Okay, that's nice, but he didn't tell me about you, Christina."

"I know. And you should know that is not how we operate. I'm pretty upset with Matt right now. I mean, he should have been honest with you, Rachel. We put all our cards on the table."

"Did you know that he was using molly?"

"I suspected something. He's been seeing a much younger woman who's been a little too wild for my taste. They went to an EDM concert last night. I think it's time he breaks things off with her. That's why I was hoping things worked out with you," Christina said, moving closer to Rachel.

"Okay," Rachel said quickly. "I have to go."

"His wife?" Brody asked when she left the trauma room.

"I'm not talking about this with you. In fact, I'm not gonna talk about it with anybody on this planet or in this galaxy. Ever."

"Polyamory. Think you'll give them a go?"

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I really am."

"Dr. Weston," Mollie said. "The transplant team said they'd be ready for you in 15 minutes."

"Anybody hear from Kurt?" he asked.

"No, and we can't find Finn. Sam sent the paramedics over to Finn's apartment just in case. No one was there."

Rachel sighed. "I'll call some of his motorcycle buddies to see if we can find him."

At the jail, Kurt was still trying to get his phone call. "Officer, I want my phone call now."

"Few minutes."

"A few minutes? No. You said that 20 minutes ago!"

"Kurt, take it easy. The more you bug them, the longer they'll make you wait. Drunk tank rules, alright? Don't piss off the cops, forget about time and try to make friends." He looked over at the other guy in their holding cell who was passed out. "Luckily for us, we don't have to worry about the making friends part," he said as he started laughing.

"This doesn't bother you?"

"I've been here before."

"And you're proud of that?"

"Just stating a fact. Yelling at the cops makes it worse."

"I've never missed a day's work. I made a commitment to Brianna. I read to her every night before she falls asleep, Finn. This is your fault."

"Okay, yeah, next time I just won't have your back."

"Is that what you think you were doing, Finn?"

"Yes."

"Then what you don't get is that I had it. By choosing to be the bigger man and walking away. I like to fight, Finn. But in the octagon. Not in a bar. I'll leave that to the drunk, loud mouth wannabe."

"Oh, tell me more, Dr. Freud."

"You want more? I got more. You're a mess and you're screwing everything up. Over what? A breakup? Or Annie moving out? What is it? Because you're starting to act like you used to. You're like 'hey everybody, look at me. I'm gonna drink and I'm gonna fight because I can't face my problems.'"

"Says the guy who spent 20 years in the closet."

"You shut your mouth," Kurt said. "Because I'm getting tired of it." He walked back to the front of the cell. "Can I have my phone call?" he yelled.

At the hospital, Jessica came up to Rachel. "You got a second?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah. One second."

"I assume you hate me like everybody else here?"

"Hate is a strong word, but no, I'm definitely not your biggest fan."

"I couldn't tell anyone what was going on, okay? I really need this job and this was going to happen anyway. The place has been in the red for years. That's why it's being sold."

"That may be, but you can't blame everyone here for being angry with you. We all love Puck, so if you mess with him, you're messing with all of us."

"I'm trying to help him keep his job. I have a few ideas but he won't even talk to me. Neither will Finn, for that matter. Any ideas on how to make good with him?"

"You can just stop. Once that man makes up his mind, he doesn't change it." She sighed. "Are the rumors true? Are you guys really going to sell off this ER and turn it into a surgical center? Is that what's happening?"

"I'm not allowed to say. Legally. If you have a résumé, I would update it if I were you."

At the nurses' station, Kitty and Puck were trying to get to the bottom of what was going on. "Dana's esophagus is completely normal. So why can't she eat?" Kitty said.

"I'm stumped."

"I don't want to believe it, but maybe it is all in her head."

Puck looked around the nurses' station and saw Rachel standing there. "Hey, Rach, you wanna take a look at this? I need your input."

Rachel nodded and walked over to the computer they were at. She leaned down next to Puck. "I need to talk to you about what I just heard from Jessica."

"Great, can't wait."

Mollie came running down the hall. "Rachel, trauma two!"

She followed Mollie down the hall to Matt's room, where he was shaking in bed. "What's happening? What's wrong with him?" Christina asked.

"He's seizing. Push a milligram of Ativan. Get him on high flow oxygen," Rachel said.

"Meds are in," Mollie said.

"Why isn't it working?"

"Push another milligram," Rachel said.

Outside the hospital, Annie was leaning against an ambulance, looking at her phone and smoking a cigarette. "Since when do you smoke?" Brody asked, coming out to see her.

"Nervous habit. I'm trying not to start again. Finn's not answering any of my messages. I'm worried."

"Is that all this is about? Not our moving-in conversation?"

"I feel like I opened my big mouth and I scared you off."

"No, you didn't. You didn't scare me off. I think maybe I scared myself off a little."

"What does that mean?" Annie asked, walking to the bench to sit down.

Brody followed her and sat down next to her. "We'll we've just been moving really fast. So fast. I mean, we're not even supposed to be dating each other as far as the program goes." He looked up and saw the transplant team arriving. "Oh, hey, guys. Hang on one quick second." He turned to Annie. "That's the transplant team with Brianna's lungs. I gotta go. I'm sorry. I know this is a crappy place to leave it but I swear we'll talk more about it later." He walked over to the team. "We're going up to the pediatric ICU."

Annie sighed and lit the cigarette.

"Okay," Sam said, going into Brianna's room. "The donor lung is here. It's go time."

"Is Kurt here?"

"We're still looking for him, sweetheart," Nina said.

"No. I'm not going to do the surgery without him."

"We can't wait anymore, Brianna," Sam said as he tried to get her prepped.

"Please don't make me."

Artie and Brody walked into the room. "Brianna, we need to get you up to the OR, sweetie," Brody said.

"No, no, no, no," she said, taking off her oxygen mask.

"Two of Haldol, IV," Brody said, trying to calm her down as she kept crying.

In Matt's room, it wasn't going well for him either. "I'm bolusing Keppra," Mollie said. "Dilantin is running in right now. I'm going to check the labs," she said, leaving the room.

"Why won't it stop?" Christina asked.

"I'm not sure. Something should be working. He was drinking a lot of water. It could be hyponatremia."

"What is that?"

"It means his blood is diluted from too much water and his sodium levels are too low."

"So give him sodium then."

"I can't do anything until I know his levels and his chemistry isn't back from the lab. He would need three percent sodium chloride. But if I give it to him and his levels are already too high, his brain could swell and he could die."

Mollie came back in. "Chemistry machine is being serviced. That's why the labs aren't back yet. They're down for another hour."

"We don't have another hour. Christina, ongoing seizing can cause brain damage. What do you want to do?"

"Rachel, I love him. Please, you have to do something."

"BP's increasing."

Rachel sighed. "Push 100 cc's of three percent sodium chloride."

"Are you sure?"

"I have no choice. I have to trust my gut."

In Brianna's room, they were all trying to give her a pep talk. "Sweetie," Brody said. "They're waiting for us and we're running out of time."

"Hey, Brianna," Artie said. "I know that I'm not Kurt, but I care about you. I'm not going to leave your side. I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you. Neither will Nina, or Sam or Brody." He pulled out his phone, pretending like he got a message. "Hey, they found Kurt, okay? He's on his way and he says that he loves you and he's going to be here when you wake up, okay?"

Brianna nodded and her head fell to the side as the monitors started beeping. "What's happening?" Nina asked.

"She's crashing. We need to intubate," Brody said. "Tell the OR we'll be there in five."

In Dana's room, Kitty was giving her oxygen as Puck explained what they found. "The endoscopy didn't show any problems with your esophagus."

"We checked all your medical records and we can't find any medical reason for your eating issue," Kitty said.

"Why is this happening to me?" Dana asked as she started crying. "My stomach pains are getting worse and I can't eat anything and I just feel like I'm losing my mind. I don't have anyone to help me."

"We're here," Puck said. "We're here to help you. We just need to find the right meds."

"I don't want any meds."

"Dana, I don't know what it's like to feel sick all the time, but I do know what it's like not being able to deal with the world like everybody else," Kitty said. "I'm on anti-depressants. I need help to handle the slings and arrows and that's okay. It doesn't make you weak. It makes you human."

Puck noticed the expression on Dana's face. "What's wrong?"

"Something's wrong. My chest."

Puck looked at her monitor. "She has an arrhythmia. Looks supraventricular."

"Her blood pressure is down to 74. What's going on?"

"We need to cardiovert. Get the pads!" They put the chest pads on her and backed away. "Clear."

Across the hospital, Sam and Nina were talking. "Kurt convinced me that he was a responsible person. This is a major letdown. I don't know if I'll be able to make a case for him."

"Look, Nina, I've known Kurt for a very long time, okay? This is the guy that runs into the burning building. This is the guy you call when your car broke down on the side of the road. This is not the guy who bounces when life gets too tough."

"Listen to me," Nina said. "This little girl has been shuffled around the system her entire life. I will not place her in another home where the parents are not completely committed to her wellbeing."

"I promise you, this is not like Kurt or Finn. Something's not right," he said as his phone started ringing. "Kurt, what the—"

"Sam, I'm in jail. Finn got in a bar fight and I jumped in to help him out."

"Kurt, Brianna's about to go into surgery. Her donor lung came through. She fought everybody like hell. She didn't want to go into surgery until you got here."

"You get me out of here. Now. You understand?" Kurt said through the phone. "You do everything you can to get me out."

Sam sighed. "Someone's coming to bail you out, okay?"

"He's in jail?" Nina exclaimed.

"I promise you, I know Kurt, okay? This isn't like him. You have to give him the benefit of the doubt." He turned around and almost ran into Jessica. "Jessica."

"You're talking to me!"

"I don't have a choice. I have to put that hospital stuff aside. I need your help."

"I'll do anything."

"Come on," he said, walking to the nurses' station with her.

After calling Sam, Kurt was lead back to the jail cell. Finn got up and walked over to where Kurt was standing. "Everything alright? The shift surviving without you?"

Kurt turned around and punched Finn in the face, sending him stumbling backwards.

Puck and Kitty walked into Dana's room. "Okay, your heart rhythm is back to normal."

"I felt like I was having a heart attack. Why don't you two look worried?"

"Well, the arrhythmia is a problem, but it is proof that your symptoms are 100 percent medical, not psychological."

"So then what's causing all of it?" Dana asked.

"We still have no clue, but we have something to go on," Kitty said.

"I was just starting to get used to the idea of a thousand psych meds. Now you're telling me I'm not crazy?"

"Hey, we're all a little crazy. I already admitted to it."

"And I'm at about 50 percent," Puck said. "We won't give up. We'll figure this out. Order a cardiac echo and a barium swallow test."

"What's that?" Dana asked.

"Unlike the CT and endoscopy, it checks the function of your esophagus, not just the appearance. It may finally tell us what's wrong. Because something clearly is."

Puck smiled at her and walked out of the trauma room and to the nurses' station, where he saw Syd coming into the hospital. "Hey, Syd," he said. "Kurt said you might be in charge this week."

"Yep. I'm here to sign my Army discharge papers."

"That's never an easy transition from a daily mission to no mission. It took me a few months to settle back into my civilian skin."

"Well, I have a plan on how to segue. First things first, I wanna say hi to Kurt and meet Brianna. It's so exciting, Kurt being a foster parent."

"It is, but we're a little worried about Kurt. He's completely MIA."

"No he's not," Jocelyn said. "He's in jail with Finn."

"Jail?" Syd asked.

"Yeah. Jessica went down to bail them out."

"That doesn't sound like Kurt," Syd said.

"Something about a bar fight."

"That sounds like Finn," Puck said.

"Sam spoke to Kurt if you want the whole story. He's upstairs with Brianna."

"Thanks, I'll head on up," Syd said, walking towards the elevators.

At the police station, Kurt and Finn were getting their belongings back. "Next time, docs, just walk away," the police officer said.

"Tell him," Kurt said, glaring at Finn. "Officer, can I get a ride to San Antonio Memorial? It's an emergency."

"Jimmy, let's get Dr. Hummel a ride. Use the sirens."

Kurt started walking and turned back around. "Thanks, Jessica."

Finn glared at her and started walking. "That's it?" Jessica asked. "I bail you out and I don't get a thank you?"

"Thank you," Finn said, pushing the door open.

"I have my car. Do you need a ride?" Jessica asked. Finn ignored her. "You can talk to me, at least." Finn continued to ignore her. "Stop avoiding me like a sophomore in high school."

Finn turned around. "I've said everything I need to say to you."

"Well, I haven't."

"Well…" he said, walking away.

"Really? Finn."

At the hospital, Rachel was examining Matt. "Well, the seizures stopped but he could be out for awhile," she said to Christina.

"So it was hyponatremia?"

"Yeah, it looks like it. We're gonna put him in the ICU overnight so we can monitor him and raise his sodium levels slowly. He should be fine."

"Thank you. That was a tough call."

"Yeah, well, I had to trust my instincts, which I haven't been doing a lot of lately."

"Well, hey, thank you so much," Christina said, walking over to where Rachel was standing. "I'm so grateful," she said, hugging her.

"Yeah, sure," Rachel said, slightly taken aback a few seconds later when Christina kissed her. "I think we're done here," she said.

Christina nodded and looked out the window. "George!" she said. "He's good."

"Who's George?"

"Oh, he's our boyfriend."

"Your boyfriend? Like, you share George?"

"Yeah. What would be the point of not?"

"Christina, I'm sorry. I'm not judging. I just…it's a whole new world for me."

"I understand," Christina said, smiling. "It's not for everyone. But I believe we can design our own relationships however we want. Whatever makes us happy."

Rachel nodded and started walking out of the room before turning back around. "So, you really think you can be in love with two people at the same time?"

"Absolutely. Matt and George are two completely different people. I love them both. We all get the best of both worlds. And it's never boring. That's why we embrace our lifestyle. One perfect person doesn't exist."

Rachel nodded again. "Well, it's been nice meeting you, Christina. It's been educational to say the least." She walked out the door and shook her head, seeing Kitty walk up beside her.

"Hey. I've been Googling polyamory. It's actually super complicated. They have a lot of rules and they tell each other everything. Two things I hate," Kitty said.

"If they're happy and they can make it work, who am I to judge?"

"Not me. I always judge. Anyway, can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah," Rachel said, turning to look at her.

"There are rumors flying around that they may shut down the ER. Is that really possible?"

Rachel sighed. "It is but nothing is for sure."

"Except we all lose our jobs and I'm screwed trying to find another residency."

"I know. I hear you, Kitty. But let's take things one at a time. There'll be plenty of time to panic later."

Outside of the OR floor, Kurt came running down the hallway. "What OR is Brianna in?" he asked Syd, barely bothering to slow down.

"One. The surgery already started and she's really weak. It's been touch and go.

Kurt ran down the hall to the OR and pressed the intercom button. "Give me an update."

"Fifty-fifty," Brody said.

"She's a fighter, Kurt," Artie said.

"If she doesn't make it through the surgery, I don't know what I'm going to do," Kurt said. "I should have been there."

"There's nothing you can do about it now," Syd said. "As a parent, you are going to make mistakes sometimes. I have made so many I can't remember them all. But I try to work on fixing them and I work at being a better mother. Kurt, you're never going to be perfect. But right now you have to pull yourself together because beating yourself up will not help her." She watched the surgery for a few minutes. "And a little prayer never hurt."

Across town, Finn and Jessica were on the bus and Finn was trying to ignore her, something that was proving harder and harder as the minutes went by. "This is some seriously petulant, childish bullshit," Jessica said. "I bailed you out. The least you could do is talk to me."

"I didn't ask you to bail me out. I didn't ask you to get on this bus with me."

"I don't blame you for being pissed off. I screwed up. I did. I should have told you what was going on. But that's in the past. How do I fix it? How do I make it up to you and everyone else? What do I do?"

"Well, short of getting in a time machine and changing everything you did, it's not gonna happen."

"So that's it?" she asked, leaning back against the seat.

"Yep."

"No room in your heart for repentance, for forgiveness? Not even a conversation? You just shut down?"

"I get that maybe the way I do things is not the right way. And maybe it's not good for me. But it's who I am. And I'm self-aware enough to know that I'm not gonna change. Because I don't want to change. That's why Rachel left me and that's why I am leaving you."

"Wow…"

"So just get off the bus."

"Okay. Wow," she said, standing up as the bus started to stop. "You know, you're missing out on a lot because life is all about change. I'll see you around, Finn Christopher Hudson." She started walking and then turned back around. "We could've been great."

"Could have."

She shook her head and walked off the bus.

At the hospital, Kurt was getting his ass chewed out by Nina. "I understand that you didn't start the fight, but from now on, you have to be more careful in choosing your friends. There is going to be a lot of scrutiny on you and Blaine. Don't give them any other excuses to deny you."

"It was out of my control but I can promise you this is never going to happen again."

"I will do my best to make this go away, but do not make me regret going out on a limb for you."

"Look who I found wandering the halls," Syd said, bringing Blaine into the OR waiting area.

"I just got the message. I was on a drug bust. I came straight from the field," Blaine said, hugging Kurt.

"God, I needed to see you," Kurt said.

Blaine looked at his husband's face. "What happened to you?"

"It's fine. I'll tell you later."

They all turned their attention to Brody and Artie working. "How's she doing?" Blaine asked.

"It was tough for awhile but they're finally putting in the new lung. Even then, it's too early to say whether it's gonna take. It's gonna be a long night," Kurt said.

"Which brings me to coffee," Syd said. "You guys want any?" The two of them nodded. "Okay," Syd said, heading out to give them some space.

In Dana's room, Puck was hoping to give her good news. "So, Dana, your swallow study shows that you have achalasia."

"What is that?"

"Can you see this," he asked, pointing to a spot on the screen. "Your lower esophageal sphincter isn't working properly."

"Okay, but what does that have to do with my heart?"

"You said your stomach problems got worse after your trip to Peru, right?"

"What does that have to do with my heart?"

"Well, did your eyelids ever get really swollen?"

"Yeah, they did, actually. I just assumed it was an allergic reaction to my new dog."

"I think you were bit by an insect. Something called the kissing bug. It's very common in Latin America."

"You're thinking Chagas?" Kitty asked.

"Chagas," Puck confirmed.

"What's Chagas?"

"You developed an infection from the bug bite. That caused inflammation that weakened and dilated your esophagus and heart muscle."

"Are you serious? I have a diagnosis?" Dana asked.

"You have a diagnosis," Kitty said.

"Luckily, we caught it in time so the effect on your heart is minimal."

"Thank you for believing in me," Dana said.

"It wasn't just me," Puck said. "It's all a part of the job."

Once the sun came up, the bus driver walked to the back of the bus where Finn was asleep. "Got somewhere else to go, buddy?" she asked, shaking his shoulder to wake him up. "You can't ride this all night and day, you know. There's a shelter down the street."

"Yep. Thanks," Finn said, slowly getting up.

In Brianna's room, Artie came in and noticed Kurt, Blaine and Syd all sleeping. "Kurt?" Brianna asked, starting to wake up.

Kurt immediately woke up when he heard his name. "I'm right here," he said, walking over to Brianna's bed. "And so is Blaine."

"Hey, sweetie," Blaine said, waking up. He walked over to Brianna's bed and sat on the edge of it.

"How are you feeling?" Kurt asked.

"I can breathe. Oh my gosh, I can breathe."

"Let's check your peak flow," he said, grabbing the tool they'd need. He put it up to Brianna's mouth and she breathed into it. Kurt looked at the number it said. "420."

"Is that good?" Blaine asked.

"That's good. That's very good." Behind him, he heard Syd start to wake up and he beckoned her over. "Bri, this is Syd."

"Hi, honey. It's so nice to finally meet you."

"You're prettier than Kurt described you."

"Really?" she said, giving Kurt an amused look.

"But he likes boys so…"

"You're killing me," Kurt said good-naturedly.

"Artie," Brianna said. "Thank you. I don't think I could have done the surgery without you. You're the best."

"I'm just glad you're feeling better," Artie said.

Syd gave Artie a look and the two of them left, giving the little family some time together. "I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me," Kurt said. "And I will never let you down like that again. I will always be there for you."

"I know," Brianna said. "That's why you're going to be my dad. Both of you," she said, smiling at them.

At the nurses' station, Brody was giving everyone an update. "I just wanted to let everybody know that Brianna's new lung is working. It's going to be a long road back, but the transplant team is really optimistic that she's gonna do great."

Mollie walked over to Puck. "Puck, the day shift is here. And if it's okay with you, I'm going to break out the leftover beer."

"As long as I get the first one," Puck said.

"Oh, I get the second one," Rachel said.

"Yes ma'am," Mollie said.

"Hey, Puck," Syd said, coming up to him. "Do you mind if I put some of these flyers up around the ER?" she asked, handing him one.

"Sure," he said, looking it over. "You're doing this?"

"This is the segue out of the Army I was telling you about. I can't go from daily missions to no missions. Here," she said, handing one to Rachel.

"And Riley is with her dad?" Puck asked.

"She's at summer camp for a month. So I'm gonna go to the Turkish border and help Syrian refugees. I was hoping to recruit some doctors and nurses to come with me if that's okay with you."

"I wish I could join you," Puck said. "I've got too much on my plate. I've gotta keep this place away from the devil."

"Yeah, Syd, this is very tempting, but with the sale of the hospital, we're all in crisis mode," Rachel said, walking over to where the two of them were standing. "I can't leave. Besides, I'm like Puck's woobie."

"You are," Puck said, giving her a hug. "I was hoping you'd say that. You are my rock, Rachel."

"Right back at you."

"It's quite the family you've got here," Syd said. "It's not something you see very often."

"That's why I'm going to do everything I can to keep it together," Puck said.

"Of course you are," Rachel said. She smiled at Syd as she waked away. "Puck, I think it's time we tell everyone what's really going on. The rumor mill is going crazy."

"Right. Okay."

"After that beer though," Rachel said, smiling.

"Yeah, or three."

A little while later, an impromptu party was in full swing in the break room of the hospital. Puck heard the door open and turned around to see Finn walk into the break room. "Well, look what the cat dragged in."

"Yeah," Finn said, walking over to him. "I've seen better days and nights."

"You look like you were hit by a truck."

"Literally and metaphorically. How's Brianna?"

"The surgery was a success."

"Is Kurt with her?" he asked, turning around to see Syd come in.

"I would stay away from him," Syd said. "I don't think that pretty face can take another shot."

"Is that, um, the UN relief group? You're doing that?"

"Yeah. I'm headed to Turkey next week."

"I could really do with a change of scenery," Finn said as she hung one of the fliers. "Puck, do you think that I could…"

"Honestly, brother, with everything that's going on in the hospital, I think it would help everyone if you got out of here for a little while."

"Okay," Finn said. "Guess I'll go pack my bags."

"Hold up, cowboy, I didn't give you the thumbs up yet," Syd said. "I don't need a loose cannon. I need someone who is there to do the job."

"Puck, can you tell her I can do it?"

"Despite his present condition, there is nobody that you would want to have your back in a place like that than this guy," Puck said.

"Okay, you're hired. You screw up, you're on the first plane back home."

"Guess I better not screw up then," Finn said, taking a flier as he left the break room.

"I hope that was the right call," Syd said, watching him leave.

"It was. Chaos is his happy place. Speaking of chaos," he muttered to himself. "Hey, everybody? Let me catch you up where we're at with the hospital."

"Uh-oh," Mollie said, tapping her fingers on the table.

Across the hospital, Rachel was walking out of another patient's room when she saw Finn walking in the hallway. "Hey," she said.

"Hey."

"Looks like you had a really rough night."

"Yeah," Finn said, running a hand through his hair. "It's been a rough couple of nights this week."

"Finn, you've come so far. Don't slide now."

"I'm trying. Maybe this is just who I am," he said, pressing the button for the elevator.

"It's not," Rachel said.

"I'm going overseas with Syd. It'll be good to clear my head. Guess I'll see you in a couple weeks."

"Come here," Rachel said, pulling him in for a hug. "You be careful over there, okay?" she said, trying to stop the tears that were about to flow over.

"You be careful over here," Finn said as the elevator door opened.

He walked into the elevator and hit the closed door button. Rachel gave him a weak smile and a wave and Finn saluted her.

A few hours later, Rachel was back at her place and she couldn't sleep. So, she did the one thing she could think. She got dressed again and drove out to Finn's place.

When she got there, she got out of the car and walked up to his door, knocking on it and hoping that Annie wouldn't be the one to answer the door.

The door opened and she saw Finn standing there with a tired look on his face. "Rach? What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep. So I thought I'd come see if you needed help packing."

Finn stepped aside and let her in. "You were always the better packer than I was."

She turned around to face him and threw her arms around him, almost knocking him off balance. "I am really going to miss you."

"It's not for that long, Rach."

She shook her head. "I'm afraid you aren't going to come back in one piece."

"Rachel–"

"Don't. Let me talk." She took a deep breath. "It drives me nuts that you always leave when things get rough. But I've come to accept that about you. I don't want you to go. Because I'm going to worry about you the entire time you're gone. But if you're aren't going to stay, I want you to set me free."

"Set you free?"

"I love you, Finn Hudson. I'm probably always going to love you. I want San Antonio to be enough. San Antonio needs you."

"San Antonio needs me?" he repeated.

"Damn it, Finn," she said, wiping away the tears that were falling. "I shouldn't have come here." She turned around to leave but was stopped by Finn reaching out for her. He spun her around and she looked him in the eyes. "I don't want you to leave."

Finn leaned down and kissed her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up, her legs immediately wrapping around him. "I don't think I'm quite ready to leave San Antonio," he whispered, smiling slightly. "I love you, Rachel Berry."

"I love you too." She unwrapped her legs from around his torso and he put her back on the ground. "So you're staying?"

"I'm staying. And I'm hoping we're going to be together again. And forever this time."

Rachel gave him a small smile and another passionate kiss. "I think forever sounds wonderful."

 **Author's Note: So, this is it. The last ever installment of Pumping Blood. I wanted Finn and Rachel to get their happy ending in the series, even though some of you weren't very pleased it took them this long to get back together. I hope you've all enjoyed reading it because I've definitely enjoyed writing them. Thanks for reading!**


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